Jerusalema

What it's about:

Lucky Kunene (Rapulana Seiphemo) is a poor boy from Soweto who dreams of being rich and successful. He's accepted into university, but cannot afford the fees, so he turns to stealing cars for hardened gangster Nazareth (Jeffrey Sekele). After he's almost arrested, he flees to Johannesburg and runs a taxi business with his childhood friend Zakes (Motlatsi Mahloko). Living in a slum block, they form a tenants association and withhold rent until the unscrupulous landlord tends to the building. Amazed by the success of their plan, they expand it to seize other buildings and enterprises, attracting attention from other crime lords and the police which ultimately leads to a brutal gang war. What we thought of it:

It's refreshing to watch a South African movie that's able to get over nationality and deliver an engrossing story that anyone can enjoy. Name dropping Scarface (1983) and City of God (2002) in the press release might have been a bit ambitious as Jerusalema is by no means perfect, but it does stand up favourably against many international films within the crime/thriller genre.

Following roughly the same formula as City of God, Jerusalema kicks off in present day and then swiftly flashes back to Lucky's youth, and the choices he made. The play off between his humble family life and his lofty aspirations make for compelling viewing, given how common this situation must be in SA today.

For the young Lucky, violent crime is a game until people around him die, and for a while he goes straight. A few years of hardship later, he's breaking the law again. Like Nazareth's comment about hijacking being "affirmative repossession", crime is viewed as the smart alternative to poorly paid, back-breaking labour and well within the rights of the people who are still waiting for upliftment after the promises of 1994.The grown up Lucky is wiser, but the risks he takes are far greater and inevitably have far worse consequences.

Rapulana Seiphemo portrays a flawed yet complex man, still clinging to the dreams of his youth while navigating the harsh world of poverty and crime. Both his triumphs and his pain are real, yet he always operates with a certain detachment that makes even his most reckless endeavours credible.

The supporting cast do well, for the most part, with Jeffrey Sekele being sufficiently brutal and hate-filled as the ex-ANC apartheid freedom fighter. Robert Hobbs must take credit for making the hilariously named ex-apartheid cop, Blackie Swart, a character who is immediately unlikable, yet elicits sympathy for the massive challenges he faces.

The downside of Jerusalema is that it drags from time to time and could easily have been 30 minutes shorter. Without the budget of bigger gangster movies, it's not quite as slick or action packed as anything by Quentin Tarantino or Guy Ritchie, but it's certainly of a superior quality to many other SA films of the recent past.

Despite the flaws, I would recommend all South Africans watch Jerusalema, just to see that this country can produce an entertaining film that isn't an embarrassing comedy aimed at white teenagers. Hopefully Jerusalema is just the first entry in a new chapter of SA cinema. - Ivan Sadler

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