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From the land of Mandela
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South Africa is the focus of a forthcoming film fest
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Nelson Mandela was moved by Cry, The Beloved Country
FILM BUFFS can look forward to a set of five celebrated films from South Africa, from July 24 to 28. Cry, The Beloved Country, directed by Darrell James Roodt, produced by Anant Singh and starring Academy Award nominees James Earl Jones and Richard Harris is being screened on July 24.
The film is based on the internationally acclaimed, eponymous novel Alan Paton (1903-88), a staunch opponent of apartheid. A passionate tale of racial injustice, the film is credited with having directed international attention to apartheid in South Africa. "Much of what is portrayed in Cry, The Beloved Country evokes such strong emotions about the terrible past from which South Africa has just emerged," Nelson Mandela is reported to have once said. "Cry, the Beloved Country, however, is also a monument to the future. One of South Africa's leading humanists, Alan Paton, vividly captured his eloquent faith in the essential goodness of people in his epic work."
The film vividly portrays the anguish and suffering of an elderly black minister, Stephen Kumalo (played by James Earl Jones), whose son Absalom accidentally kills a white social reformer and anti-apartheid proponent, Arthur Jarvis. Arthur is the son of James Jarvis, a rich Afrikaans farmer and a staunch rightist (played by Richard Harris) who has no regard for his son's liberal beliefs and outlook. The story plots the reconciliation of the two men, who have each lost a son to the violence of South Africa — one black, the other white.
The second film, Sarafina, also directed by Darrel James Roodt, recounts the story of a young South African girl who not only has to battle her feelings of abandonment and disappointment but also endure the humiliation of violence, imprisonment and torture till she is reunited with her mother, who has been through her own set of struggles. Academy Award-winner Whoopi Goldberg is featured as Sarafina's rebellious history teacher who encourages the children to be proud of their identity.
Directed by Katinka Heyns, Paljas is the story of a clown who defects from a passing circus to live in a deserted building near a remote railway station. His friendship with the stationmaster's nine-year-old son Willem, who has stopped talking fours years ago, forms an interesting peg of the narrative. Thanks to the improbable and secretly nurtured bonding between the two, Willem is able to regain his long-forgotten laughter and later on, as if by a miracle, overcome his speech impediment as well. Sadly, the wondrous incidents only help ignite resentment, hostility and bloodshed. The unjust violence, however, draws the stationmaster's family together again.
Director Lee Hirsch's documentary, Amandla is a salute to the black South African freedom music and reveals the central role it played in the long battle against apartheid. Winner of the Audience Award and Freedom of Expression Award at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, the film enthrals not only through the songs and music, but also the stunning array of archival footage, some of them never seen before, culled from a variety of sources.
The concluding film, The Making Of The Mahatma, follows Gandhiji's early career in South Africa as also his initial experiments with truth. Directed by Shyam Benegal, the film bears the following acclamation: "It all began in South Africa /A hundred years ago ... Resistance without violence / Confrontation without enemies / Victory without losers." What more could one say standing as we are in our own troubled times?
The festival of South African films is being organised at the Suchitra Film Society auditorium on 9th Main, Banashankari II Stage, Bangalore 560 070. For further details, call 26711785.
July 24, 6.45 p.m.: Cry, The Beloved Country
July 25, 3 p.m.: Sarafina /Amandla
July 26, 6.45 p.m.: Paljas
July 28, 6.45 p.m.: The Making Of The Mahatma
ATHREYA
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