(artSMart reviewer Pranesh Maharaj covered the recent
Durban International Film Festival.)
(A shot from the film)
Letters to Zohra was meant to be more. It didn’t deliver. (Review
by Pranesh Maharaj)
Letters to Zohra is directed by Saskia Vredeveld with cinematographers
Brian Green and Adam Asmal.
No film or
documentary is subject to a specific structure, no matter what the academics
say. However, it is necessary for the filmmaker to deliver on what was
promised. Structure your doccie and decide what you want to deliver then do
exactly that.
Letters to Zohra by Mr Kathrada was a mere device to tell
some other story that Mr Kathrada has already told. Perhaps it was made to tell
this great story to people in other countries who had no idea what happened
back then. Or perhaps our film maker quickly put something together. I was
expecting a very intimate and personal account of things. I wanted to know more
about the man. About what made him tick? I didn’t get that.
I am aware that Mr
Kathrada comes from a place where being secretive about what happened was key
to survival. And many of the surviving cadres still live by that unwritten
code; but as a film maker you have to know what buttons to push and if your
efforts are met with a full stop, then show us that.
I watched this and
found the Kathrada from his book, the books of others and the media. I found
the Communist, the underground activist, the politician and the man with a
great longing for peace, equality and truth through passive resistance who yet
found himself amidst the MK. Don’t we all know this already? Letters to Zohra was meant to be more.
It didn’t deliver. – Pranesh Maharaj
The 35th Durban
International Film Festival is organised by the Centre for Creative Arts at the
University of KZN (a special project of the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the
College of Humanities, Cheryl Potgieter) with support from the National Film
and Video Foundation, KZN Department of Economic Development & Tourism, KZN
Film Commission, City of Durban, German Embassy, Goethe Institut, Industrial
Development Corporation, KZN Department of Arts and Culture and range of other
valued partners. Full
information on www.durbanfilmfest.co.za
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