Film Reviews

uCarmen eKhayelitsha

• Rating:
• Director: Mark Dornford-May.
• Starring: Pauline Malefane, Andile Tshoni, Lungelwa Blou, Zweilingile Sidloyi.
• Details: South Africa, 112mins, PG.

It's got to be difficult for first-time director Mark Dornford-May: he's made a movie that will appeal to only the smallest of the movie going public - opera lovers and, even more select, opera lovers who would like to see the Seville-based opera placed in a South African township. Not the first adaptation of the opera, Carmen was shot in 1984 but the setting stayed Seville side and was true to the original story. Trying to inject a little Baz Luhrmann into the proceedings, Dornford-May gave the proceedings a street level consciousness and set the romantic story in modern times and around a shy, bible-loving police officer Jongikhaya (Tshoni) and Carmen (Malefane) - a gutsy, abrasive cigarette factory girl. Sung and spoke in many different languages (including the clicking Xhosa), UCarmen eKhayelitsha contrasts sublime music with the harsh surroundings of a shantytown. The performances are all fine but the real reason to watch this is how the director pulled it off. It's safe to say that there is no other film like this out there at the moment but will it appeal to the general public? "I ignore the rules" Carmen teases the police captain; so does Dornford-May and his film is a joy because of and not despite of this.

Review by Gavin Burke