Barbara Hershey may be top billed, but she's taken a step back for young Jodhi May in this enlightening coming of age drama about the evils of apartheid in 1960's South Africa. May is a teenage girl, simply living her life and trying to survive in an unjust society that has turned to the most powerful form of racist suppression (apartheid) to keep a white government in power. White folks who fight against these injustices are labeled as communists, and those who even have the most subtle of friendships with blacks are labeled as enemies of the state.
May's mother, Hershey, fighting against these evils, is arrested after her husband (and May's father) flees the country, and May is bullied in her all girl's school for having parents who dared to make a difference. It's horrifying to see teenage girls mocking May for the parents she has, but it has one positive impact. It opens May's eyes to the evils going on around her.
Early in the film, her home is raided by the police for having a party where blacks and whites mix, under the front of the anti-black drinking law, and the officials don't care that it's a party for their black cook's birthday. The mixing of races is enough motive for them. May's friend's parents refuse to allow them to hang out with her, and she has nowhere to turn with everyone seemingly against her. Once again, this is a film that makes me angry, a very good one like "Cry Freedom" and "A Dry White Season", as well as "Mississippi Burning" set in the American south. It may be a film with an agenda, but it's a very powerful and honest one. Hershey's great, but May walks off with the film. Linda Mvusi (the heart and soul of the film) is equally outstanding as the cook whose personal tragedies open May's eyes to the realities she hadn't noticed before.
May's mother, Hershey, fighting against these evils, is arrested after her husband (and May's father) flees the country, and May is bullied in her all girl's school for having parents who dared to make a difference. It's horrifying to see teenage girls mocking May for the parents she has, but it has one positive impact. It opens May's eyes to the evils going on around her.
Early in the film, her home is raided by the police for having a party where blacks and whites mix, under the front of the anti-black drinking law, and the officials don't care that it's a party for their black cook's birthday. The mixing of races is enough motive for them. May's friend's parents refuse to allow them to hang out with her, and she has nowhere to turn with everyone seemingly against her. Once again, this is a film that makes me angry, a very good one like "Cry Freedom" and "A Dry White Season", as well as "Mississippi Burning" set in the American south. It may be a film with an agenda, but it's a very powerful and honest one. Hershey's great, but May walks off with the film. Linda Mvusi (the heart and soul of the film) is equally outstanding as the cook whose personal tragedies open May's eyes to the realities she hadn't noticed before.