Four South African films you have to see...

Amandla

Last night P asked 'have you got any good DVDs?' Have I got a good DVD? Yebo yes! I must have seen this film 15 times, and yet I never tire of it. Simply put, Amandla traces the role of music in South Africa's freedom struggle, interviewing Abdullah Ibrahim, Miriam Makeba, and Hugh Masekela to name a few, and using old footage seemlessly and beautifully blended with new. The photography techniques used play with light and colour stunningly.

Forgiveness

I have only seen this film once, but it is one that, given the opportunity, I would watch as often as I have Amandla. It is the story of a family whose son was tortured and executed for his political activities, and whose executioner has come to them to ask forgiveness. It cuts to the gritty realities of guilt, shame, remorse and revenge that still grip a country trying to come to terms with such a terrible past. Fabulous filming techniques, and the use of Afrikaans is just right.

Hotel Rwanda

This is a South African production, but based on the story of a hotel manager in Rwanda who saved over 1000 people from slaughter by sheltering them in his hotel during the 1994 genocide. I have just got the soundtrack through the post and am crying again. This film is simply devastating, one leaves the cinema in a state of shock and disbelief. J called it a modern Schindler's list. Wonderfully shot, it uses scenes of violence sparingly so that one does not become desensitised, but rather is in a constant state of flux between fear and relief. We know too little about this genocide, mostly, in Dallaire's view, because it happened in Africa. Go and see this film.

Yesterday

I have few regrets in life, but not getting round to seeing this film is one of them. It was released a few days before my last departure from SA. Beyond watching the trailor a million times on the website, therefore, I haven't seen this, and can't give a commentary. Here is part of one written by Ilse Arendse: It may be hailed as a moving piece of cinematic fiction but for millions of South Africans, it's a frighteningly real story unfolding daily in the poverty-stricken countryside. Yesterday, written and directed by South African filmmaker Daryl James Roodt, is about a poor, young HIV-positive mother struggling to raise her daughter alone in a desolate landscape, while coming to terms with her imminent death from Aids.

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The SA film industry seems to be on the way up right now, producing stunningly original and poignant films. Another reason why I can't wait to be in The Mother City.