The Land of Cyprus is both a stereotypical and an unusual colonial film. On the one hand, it retains the orientation of its borrowed film materials, and tells a familiar tale of the British finding solutions to colonial problems. On the other hand, The Land of Cyprus goes further than most colonial films, admitting that these solutions bring with them problems of their own. This is perhaps evidence of the influence that UNESCO. and the United Nations had upon this film. The film is pulled between the orientation of its original title, Soil Erosion in Cyprus, and the more general problems indicated by its replacement title, in which the ‘land’ of Cyprus can be taken as referring to both the island as a whole and to its geological features.

The film begins by outlining problems that Cyprus is facing. These include deforestation; free-ranging goats; and the mis-management of water supplies. These topics are the specific concerns of the films that The Land of Cyprus is compiled from. Here, they are each re-emphasised to stress the subject of soil erosion. In addition, the documentary is careful to stress that the origins of these problems lie in ancient, pre-British times. There is a repeated refrain that each issue has existed ‘for centuries’, and a mention of King Solomon suggests a different era of colonial rule. At this point in the film the islanders are cast as being incapable of solving problems themselves: ‘the people sat and waited in the shadows for what would happen next’.

This provides the cue for the first appearance of a British official on the screen: we see a young, white man from the Water Supply and Irrigation Department. The borrowed film materials convey a sense of collaboration between the British and the Cypriots. They also reveal a strict sense of hierarchy. The lone British official has the plan; the islanders are instructed and they carry out the heavy work. There is then a reversal of images that we have seen earlier in the film: wild waters are now shown to be controlled; fertile lands replace barren ones; the science of farming replaces the science of disease; a prosperous rural family replaces a poverty-stricken one; trees are shown flourishing; goats are tethered.

It is at this point that the film moves in its novel direction: outlining the problems that these solutions have brought. Although it would perhaps be expected that this orientation is due to the influence of UNESCO. and the United Nations upon the film, it should be noted that these new problems have little to do with soil erosion. It is acknowledged that, despite improvements, population growth on the island is outpacing food supply. In addition, the staggered nature of the improvements is encouraging unwelcome population movement to particular villages and towns.

At first it seems as though the solution to these problems will lie in the emigration of the ‘healthy’, ‘strong’, and ‘educated’ youngsters abroad. This film was made in the post-war period when there were labour shortages in Britain. It asks of the children, ‘will they, with their insistent hunger, crop the island bare?’ and ‘must they go abroad for a living?’ However, in contrast to its approach to the original issues, the film leaves this question open. The film ends with a sequence in which a schoolmaster instructs his class to head for the mountains, where they are shown planting young saplings. Rather than there being a colonial problem and a British solution, the Cypriot situation is now universalised. It is here that the Food and Agriculture Organisation had its most direct influence upon the film. Their script emerges on the screen, stating: ‘Too often man has not given proper care to the soil off which he lives. One of the greatest tasks facing many countries today is to give back to the land its lost fruitfulness. This story is a vital one, not only for Cyprus, but for the world’. These sentiments chime with the time in which the film was made: they speak of regeneration to a world that was still recovering from the War. And yet these remain surprising images and words to see in a governmental documentary about Cyprus: they send out a message of self-help and new beginnings, whereas the island itself remained under determined British control.

Richard Osborne (April 2010)