The mesmerizing and splendidly done TV travelogue The South African Story with Archbishop Desmond Tutu Tuesdays at 20:00 on SABC3 is an uplifting and spectacular visual documentary series done with cinematic, panoramic panache. Its not must-see television, its simply want to see television.
Veteran producers Roger Friedman and Benny Gool created a basically perfect inspirational TV travel series with on location narration by a beloved South African icon, stirring music perfectly utilized to aid the slow-motion reveal of beautiful vistas across South Africa, and lingering the camera loving on landscapes in an on-screen romance with roaming across the vibrant natural colours and contours of the country's nine provinces.
The South African Story with Archbishop Desmond Tutu (that was actually filmed between January and April 2010 and in high definition) finds Desmond Tutu traversing the nine provinces of South Africa and is a multi-faceted, crisp and captivating travel docu-programme that brilliantly showcases South Africa and is a TV gem in every aspect of its look, feel and content for the broadcaster. The production values of the 10 episode The South African Story with Archbishop Desmond Tutu is of astounding high quality. This immersively rich show need to be entered for an International Emmy in the documentary category next year. It can absolutely compete with the best in the world in this genre.
As a radiant travelogue The South African Story with Archbishop Desmond Tutu is imbued with epic scope and a sense of sweeping beauty - greatness that one would suspect might not have been that evident behind the scenes where the producers had to obviously find the time in the very busy archbishop's diary to jet away across South African intermittently to film this amazing show. The programme captures and elongates the emotional sense of wonder that South Africa is and sustains it for half hour episodes which is a ''supersized'' and daunting task compared to previous beer commercials and the South African Tourism adverts with Thabo Mbeki that packed the same type of emotional ballast but just for 60 seconds.
''Let me show you around,'' invites archbishop Desmond Tutu. Viewers would be well advised to take him up on his offer.