Thanks to the Europeans and some friendly neighbours our celluloid machine seem to be finding its feet ANDREW WORSDALE on the making of Fools
After a seven-week shoot, a wrap party for Fools, a co-production between France, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, the SABC, M-Net and our Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, was held in Johannesburg last week. And, insobrieties aside, everyone was happy with the results.
Based on a short story from the award-winning collection by Njabulo Ndebele, the film tells the tale of a schoolteacher, Zamani (played by Patrick Shai), who falls foul of the community in Charterstown township when he’s found molesting young girls.
One of the girls’ brothers, Zani, played by Hlomla Dandala (a newcomer from Wits University’s drama school), sets out to challenge the teacher. Through the course of the narrative, their roles slowly reverse. And, while the young man begins to stray from the path, the older man slowly regains some of his dignity.
The story was adapted for film by Bhekisiswe Petersen, and within industry circles it has been suggested that the script is a bit flimsy. But Mozambican-based producer Pedro Pimenta flatly counters such talk. “We knew what we were going to do with it,” he says.
Despite the fact that it’s an apartheid story, the film-makers are adamant that they have a new take on the race saga. This, they say, is not your standard South African movie where all the blacks are good and all the whities bad.
Script supervisor Maureen Conway concurs: “The
movie has an interesting local feel. It’s not political per se, but rather a story about someone touched by politics.” This is reflected in director Ramedan Suleman’s treatment, which, according to Conway, “concentrates as much on atmosphere as on drama”.
In other words, Fools is being shot as an art movie, and a major bonus in this regard is the presence of cinematographer Jacques Boquin, who has shot over 100 documentaries and several art pictures, including those of Raul Ruiz, the Chilean-born director based in France who makes films teeming with surrealist imagery.
Local actor Robin Smith claims that, in the past, he was considered too ugly to play fascists; now, in the new South Africa, he’s only being cast as cops or AWB members. True to this paradox, he appears in Fools as a sjambok-wielding bad guy, absolved because the community wants his victim, the schoolteacher, to be punished. An ironic take on apartheid, executed in an artistic fashion …
When I visited the set a fortnight ago to witness a high-school scene straight out of Sarafina!, I was struck by the multi-lingual babble on set. Here’s a South African movie where they shout “Coupe!” instead of “Cut!”; where most of the communication between director and crew is in French.
It’s a sign of the times: almost all of our local movies are currently being financed or produced by outsiders (Britain’s Channel Four paid for Les Blair’s Babel; Jean Delbeke is rumoured to have a movie in the pipeline, partially financed by the Flemish).
When are people like Edgar Bold, perhaps the most powerful independent producer in the country, going to wake up and smell the potential of films that don’t just focus on the antics of Mr Safe/Mr Schlock, Leon Schuster?