Qubeka
creates his own classic. Nine out of ten here. (Review by Pranesh Maharaj)
Directed
by Jahmil X T Qubeka and produced in South Africa in 2013, Of Good Report is in Xhosa, Zulu and Sotho with English subtitles. The
film attracted major national and international media reaction when it’s
screening on the opening night of the recent Durban International Film Festival
was banned.
The
much anticipated Of Good Report
showed to a packed cinema on the final day of the festival, after its initial
banning by the Film Publications Board on the opening night. The appeals board
of the Film Publications Board had overturned their previous ruling to ban the
film and then the director tells us that they simultaneously released a press
letter stating their position on the initial ruling remains their stance in the
matter.
Qubeka’s
third film tells of a small-town high-school teacher who meets a gorgeous young
woman at a local tavern and has a sexual relationship with her, only to find out
later that she is only 16 and a member of his class.
After
the screening, we were given a chance to ask questions. Mine were: “Why (film
in) black and white?” Jahmil: “I don’t like the look and colour of blood”. Me: “Why
did you not give the main character a voice?” Jahmil: “He had a voice, in fact
he had a lot to say; but I also wanted to create the sense that he is one of
those people who are spoken to. People like that think on that level...”
And
then most people went back to the politics surrounding the movie, except the
interesting conversation about the score and music.
I
have gone past the hype and the politics. This film has the potential to change
the way all our mediums of the performance arts guide themselves. He broke
rules and did it gently. He was sensitive to everything, yet he told it all.
The film moves back and forth in time effortlessly breaking the rules of
quantum physics. I only cringed at certain transitions or the lack thereof,
wondering if it would translate to the rest of the audience. As a film maker, I
would have pondered a long while over what translates and what doesn’t. Jahmil
didn’t have to care about this because his script did it all for him. And he
wrote the script. Everything was well-placed and contributed to the story.
I
walked out thinking he had two choices when he started penning his ideas. One
was to tell the story and scare the perpetrators; and the other was to scare
the victims. He chose to scare the victims which in this particular case represent
the 'sugar daddy culture'; the victims largely make the choice and are not
educated enough by their parents and teachers to see that these situations have
tragic ends. This is a bold statement but it is, nonetheless, a fact. I want to
deal with FPB one more time. What is their problem? There is only one version
of the film. The one we saw yesterday. Wake up, guys. No porn here.
Jahmil
uses literature, music, dance, comedy, thrill and wit in making this story
interesting. Amidst my awe at this magnificent production I was also thinking
that he might be influenced by the black and white in Schindler's List or the time lapses in Pulp Fiction; but step aside Spielberg and Tarentino, Jahmil has
his own mind. He did not take the easy road and relegate to cult templates. He
created his own classic. Nine out of ten here. - Pranesh Maharaj
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