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Carmen is a feisty, vibrant woman who works in a cigarette
factory. Her philosophy of life is that if you don't want
her she's yours, and if you do want her then you had better
beware. Carmen makes good on this love them and leave them
way of living when she captivates a police sergeant Jongikhaya
in an effort to avoid prison for her attack on a fellow factory
worker. Because of Carmen, Jongikhaya falls from grace and
gets demoted, whereupon she drags him into a smuggling scheme
that can only end in tragedy. Look into Carmen's eyes and
realise that this way love and madness lies...
U-Carmen
eKhayelitsha, directed by Mark Domford-May, is a new South
African opera based on the 19th Century Carmen by Georges
Bizet. The film was shot in the township of Khayelitsha not
far from Cape Town and home to half a million people. The
film is spoken and sung in Xhosa, which is one of South Africa's
eleven official languages. The film won the Golden Berlin
Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and was selected
as an entry at the Cannes Film Festival.
Set in a township it was difficult to see how they were going
to transfer the story from Seville, especially as one of the
main characters is a bull fighter, and Toreador is one of
the most famous songs from the opera. This issue was nicely
side stepped by turning the character from a bull fighter
to a singer, thus allowing him to be seen on the television,
presumably appearing in Carmen dressed up singing the
Toreador song, though it's cut very short.
The
backdrop to the story, the township, has much in common with
the poorer quarters of Seville, where the original was set.
One of the nice things about this production was the inclusion
of a sepia tinted back story for the police sergeant, absent
in the original; it goes a long way to explaining his motivation
and dispels the problem of him being a mummy's boy, a problem
from which the original suffered.
Carmen is both a beautiful and scandalous opera, an
effect it has had from its very first production, dealing
as it does with the less savoury elements of society, their
shattered dreams, dreams which sometimes end in murder. Pauline
Malefane, as Carmen, is captivating; she exudes both toughness
and vulnerability at the same time. You can see why the good
Christian sergeant finds it difficult to resist her siren
call. Andile Tshoni's Jongikhaya is no saint though, being
his brother's killer he is more than aware that he is a weak
willed man - the knowledge of which disgusts even him, when
he does find it in himself to act it is in a most unfortunate
and bloody manner.
Special
note should be given to the sound reproduction on the disc
which is excellent; regardless where the action is taking
place the mix is always crystal clear. The audio is presented
in 'don't even think about it' stereo, an 'ok if you have
nothing else' 5.1 and a 'turn it up and blow the neighbours
away' DTS mix. English subtitles are available throughout
which is more than you'd get watching a production on a stage.
The singing is great and you should use the best reproduction
that your equipment can provide.
The disc comes with a making of documentary which, whilst
a tad short at a little less than eight minutes, is a cut
above the average. The original theatrical trailer is here
as well as interviews with the director and Pauline Malefane.
If
this is the present state of South African film making then
all I can say is let's see more.
Charles
Packer
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