The Endless River

What it's about:

After serving four years in prison, a husband returns to his wife in the small rural town of Riviersonderend (Endless River) in South Africa. As they begin to pick up the pieces, a brutal murder on a nearby farm disrupts everything. In the wake of violence and bloodshed, the young woman and a grieving widower form an unlikely bond in an attempt to transcend their grief, anger, pain and loneliness.

What we thought:

Director Oliver Hermanus' (Beauty, Shirley Adams) latest offering is not an easy watch.

With themes of racial tension and divide, murder and rape it eloquently tells the South African condition. 

Tiny (Crystal-Donna Roberts) welcomes home her husband Percy (Clayton Evertson) who just got out of jail after serving four years for gang related activities. Fresh out of jail he immediately reverts to his old ways.  A coloured man living in a small rural town, there's really not much he can do. 

Giles (Nicolas Duvauchelle), a French ex pat, is a regular customer at the diner where Tiny works. His wife and children are brutality murdered in horrific scenes just after Percy's release from jail. 

Not long thereafter Percy is murdered too. But we don’t see his murder.

Their mutual grief brings Giles and Tiny together and they escape via a road trip.  While the two find comfort in each other there's the 'whodunit' mystery following the pair and the viewer like a dark cloud.

You're never really sure about what's happening and you are left with so many questions. 

Hermanus uses a lot of silence to tell the story. The silence forces the viewer to pay attention during pivotal moments of violence, anger, grief, hopelessness and solace. 

Roberts is the star of the show, she encapsulates the role of Tiny to the core. Her character and her circumstances is an accurate depiction of coloured life in a rural community. 

The Endless River tackles topical issues in our country making it a must see.