I finally came through on a “resolution” I made myself a while ago about showing more support for the South African movie industry two weekends ago.
Riaad Moosa’s Material came out about a month ago, and I said “I need to watch that!”. Mostly because any movie which starred Riaad Moosa and Joey Rasdien was destined to be amazing, but also because I am interested in seeing how our filmmakers are doing with busting the “we will never measure up to [insert first world country here]” myth.
From the opening sequence, which showed Riaad (as Cassim Kaif) going to open up the family material store for the day’s business after prayers with his father Ebrahim (Vincent Ebrahim), they had my attention.
It was the score, and the fact that there was no dialogue in that first scene, yet so much was being said. There were many of these moments throughout this movie: the actors communicate the nuances of the story with little more than facial expressions and subtle gestures: the score drives the message.
The story is about how Cassim turns his family’s lives upside down when he says that he does not have his heart set on taking over Kaif and Sons, but on pursuing his talent for making people laugh- stand-up comedy.
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| *The movie’s website has the coolest home page! See materialmovie.com for pictures and the story behind the story. |
For a traditional Muslim father, this type of diversion from The Plan is unacceptable. Ebrahim is too set in his ways to even consider Cassim’s choice, and the growing tension between the father and son affects the family.
The viewer sees how Cassim’s divergent views become the lens through which Ebrahim begins to re-assess and confront his own demons- examining his hang-ups and the grudges he’s held for so long- and coming to realise that life does indeed go on beyond the stoep of Kaif and Sons and all the history that lies there.
The script is really good: the story progresses seamlessly through the building up of characters, and this makes the whole story more believable and enjoyable.
While there are some serious moments in this movie, there is a fair share of comedy. The audience is taken through Cassim’s trials in his romantic endeavours, there is some creatively comedic yet non-offensive (well, at least in my opinion) commentary on the culture of Muslim South Africans, and of course there are some scenes of Riaad doing some stand-up comedy.
Craig Freimond, Riaad Moosa, and the other members of the writing team that brought this 7-years-in-the-making film to South African audiences have done a really (really) good job.
Denise Newman is amazing in the role of Cassim’s mom, and I was so impressed with Krijay Govender’s (from Font back in the day, with Darren Maule) portrayal of the grandmother, Dadi Kaif. It took me a good while to realise that it was her underneath all that make-up and grey hair!
I was also very impressed with Riaad Moosa’s acting. It was clear that he was invested in the story, and wanted to make sure it was told right. He wasn’t trying to join the ranks of the countless comedians/musicians/ anyone-else-who-isn’t-an-actor-but-wants-to-front-like-they-are who make underwhelming forays into “acting”, only to disappoint the people.
This movie is amazing. I am actually considering going back to pay R53 (I hope a lot of that actually goes to these actors!) to see it again, and maybe even see something more in the story that I might’ve missed the first time.
South African film is going places.
Countdown to Otelo Burning: 30 days (release date nationwide is 11 May 2012).
Nkhensani Manabe 