The formal structure of Northern Territories can be divided into three parts. The first section offers an ethnographic study of the area and its inhabitants. This is followed by an industrial process sequence, which examines the production of shea-butter. The film thus deploys the two most common genres within documentary films on Africa. The final section offers further ethnographic shots of Africans at work, but it deliberately contrasts with the earlier sequences in order to highlight, through shots of Africans building roads and the uniformed and well-organised Mounted Constabulary, the ‘civilisation’ and social development of the area under British rule.

Northern Territories attempts to outline the role of the British in ‘civilising’ this area. An intertitle early in the film reports that ‘the spread of civilisation has not yet reached Konkomba country’. This ‘uncivilised’ land is represented by barely clothed Africans walking and dancing, before another shot of ‘Warriors in full dress’ charging at the camera. This charge at the camera – and thus at the viewer – is a staged sequence, but it is significant in indicating, and playing on, the audience’s expectations of ‘untamed’ Africa. The film constantly reiterates that the local people ‘are now quite peaceful’ and that ‘they do not now find use for their bows and poisoned arrows’, in order to illustrate that the British have brought peace to this area.

There are two scenes within the film that feature British people. First, the British commissioner receives the new chief in Western Dagomba. Although shot from a distance, the British are distinguished by their dress and are seated in the shade. An intertitle emphasises the extreme and inhospitable climate of Western Africa for the white population, when noting that ‘every advantage is taken of the shade’. Later, a white man supervises Africans, who carry baskets of soil on their head, as part of the road building process at Tamale. A local man stands alongside the British man here, and interacts more directly with the local people. This may be indicative of both the hierarchical structure within the Gold Coast, and of the increased responsibility now offered to the local chiefs by Governor Guggisberg.

Indeed, the film indicates and supports the social reforms of Guggisberg. It emphasises the development of the roads, the interaction between the local chiefs and the British commissioner, and shows shifts in local power in its representation of the Northern Territory Mounted Constabulary, ‘a well trained and efficient body of men who are responsible for the maintenance of peace and good order’. Yet, while the film attempts to show the ‘development’ and ‘civilisation’ of the Northern Territories, some of the broader problems of the area are also inadvertently revealed. The economic failings may be indicated by the antiquated production of shea-butter. A title also notes that this ‘is largely used locally’, highlighting the local failure to export products. The plight of the local population, often forced to work unpaid on the roads, can be deduced from the rows of Africans carrying stones on their heads. Again a title explains that ‘these stone-carriers have to bring the stone a distance of two miles and they do six journeys a day’. Furthermore, the emphasis on road building obscures the more pressing transport problem within the area, which is the lack of a railway. There was speculation in 1928 that the railway line would be extended, but for the most part the Northern Territories remained physically and economically cut off from much of the rest of the country.

Tom Rice (February 2008)