YESTERDAY
SUNDAY 13th MAY 10.00 am
TUESDAY 15TH MAY 8.30 pm
RUNNING TIME 96 MINUTES
RATED M
SYNOPSIS:
After falling ill, Yesterday (Leleti Khumalo) learns that she
is HIV positive. She lives in a remote South African Zulu village,
where life is hard and without modern conveniences. It takes
weeks to see a doctor. Her husband (Kenneth Khambula) is away
at work in the mines near Johannesburg. When he learns of the
diagnosis, he is furious. But Yesterday has a bright personality
and with a nine year old daughter to tend to, Beauty (Lihle
Mvelase), and her one goal is to live long enough to see her
child go to school.
Review by Jake Wilson:
Early in Yesterday, the ailing title character consults a "wise
woman" and is told, among other things, that she cannot
be helped until she acknowledges the "anger" she carries
inside her. At this point, we can only guess what this unfailingly
submissive but seemingly content woman might have to be angry
about. Even when we learn that her mystery illness is AIDS, it's
hard to find a sole villain who can be blamed for the tragedy.
Her unfaithful husband, whose mining job keeps him away from
her for months at a time? The overworked doctors who can't find
time to see her? The fearful village women who shun her after
her condition becomes known? Everybody has their reasons; for
a simple melodrama, Darrell James Roodt's film certainly raises
more questions than it answers.
This is not to say that Roodt is particularly interested in
the psychology of his heroine, an innocent vessel of suffering
whose childlike perceptions provide the basis for the film's
style. Her fruitless pilgrimages in search of help repeat themselves
as inevitably as journeys in a folk tale; when she ventures to
the city, skyscrapers tower over her in exaggerated low-angle
shots. In between the tear-jerking close-ups, the camera follows
the characters along straight lines (barb-wire fences, or the
queues outside the medical centre) as if to define the boundaries
that enclose them.
There's a touch of educational theatre to this approach, and
while Roodt's visual confidence is impressive, Yesterday is only
secondly an art movie. Clearly, the intention is to deliver a
message to local viewers about the realities of AIDS, and perhaps
bring some lessons home to others as well. As in Ousmane Sembene's
more sophisticated Mooleade, the conscious simplicity is a double-edged
sword - presumably, Roodt means to affect his viewers' emotions
directly but also distance them enough to give them space to
reflect. With the first task at least he succeeds, but I could
wish that more of Yesterday's diagnosed anger broke through to
the surface: the danger is that her misfortune could seem timeless,
part of the inevitable sorrow of life, rather than something
which might have been prevented.
Review by Andrew L. Urban:
Deeply affecting, Yesterday is a wonderfully satisfying if sad
film, beautiful not only to look at but through its characters.
A sensitive, intelligent and economical script gathers dramatic
momentum and builds tension. Gentle yet powerful, gripping
yet lyrical, Yesterday rightly earned a nomination for a Foreign
Language Oscar in 2005.
The gentleness of Leleti Khumalo as Yesterday (her father gave
her the name, believing things were better yesterday than today)
and the natural appeal of her daughter Beauty (no need to explain)
combine to draw us to them. But the film is not manipulative.
There is a raw honesty about its story, one of millions in Africa,
which is deeply touching.
Camilla Walker is excellent as the clinic doctor, stretched
beyond capacity, as are the smaller supports. But it's the superb
screenplay that lifts the film above its disparate parts. While
it deals with the scourge of AIDS, it does so through the specifics
of these characters. The core social issues are all canvassed,
with devastating impact.
Adding to all of the film's powers is the stunning landscape
and the Zulu language itself; rare and beautiful sound, it engages
us on a deep level somehow that I do not profess to understand.
Source: www.urbancinefile.com.au
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