Heartbreaking and nerve wrecking, even eye-jarring, Rough Aunties is an inconvenient documentary set in post-apartheid South Africa. It is a movie that explores the type of subject matter which has, somehow, fallen through the cracks of development-related discourse. Rough Aunties tells the story of a group of women (Jackie, Mildred, Eureka, Sdudla, and Thuli) [...]

In my country is the type of movie one might see no reason in reviewing. The seriousness of the topic combined with the predictability and banality of some of the characters, the sloppy writing and the cheesy nature of some of the scenes makes me just want to get through my review as soon as [...]

The idea that you can make a musical about apartheid gives me chills. To see it on my laptop screen seems even more inappropriate. In recent times, some wise directors tried to give a new perspective on the Holocaust by using movie genres other than dramas, and they succeeded. I cannot say the same about [...]

The State of Denial is a heartbreaking documentary that explores the difficulties HIV-infected South Africans face on a daily basis. And their inspiring struggles. It provides an insider’s view, South African born director Elaine Epstein, into the complicated factors that allow HIV/AIDS to spread at such an alarming speed. The documentary focuses on what used [...]

Senator Obama goes to Africa is a travelogue / movie propaganda made by Bob Hercules and Keith Walke. The directors follow the then senator Obama through this short African odyssey. In this documentary, Barack Obama visits the city of Kisumu in western Kenya, the capital of the country, Nairobi, as well as South Africa and [...]

There are no easy solutions in life, and Disgrace, the movie adaptation of Nobel Laureate J.M. Coetzee’s Booker Prize winning novel of the same name, tends to express that reality more dramatically than any movie I have watched in recent years. Before going into details about the movie, I would to stress the fact that [...]

Written, directed and filmed by famous South African director Jamie Uys, this hilarious documentary about the anthropomorphized creatures living in the Namib Desert will most likely be enjoyed by children, young folks and adults alike.  Animals are Beautiful People is dedicated to the creatures that were able to adapt to the extremely harsh conditions of [...]

I want to confess that I have been waiting for this movie for over two years since I first blogged about the possibility that Morgan Freeman, one of my favorite actors of all time, will play the role of Nelson Mandela in one of the moments that shaped the history of reconciliation in South Africa: [...]

I watched Mandela: Son of Africa, Father of a Nation (1996) several months ago yet I decided not to write anything about it until now. It is quite difficult to judge the movie on its own since it is more of a tribute than an independent inquiry. Our beliefs do not change after watching the [...]

From filmmakers Dara Kell and Christopher Nizza comes a very short documentary about the lives of thousands of people still living in slum-like dwellings. After spending a week in Abahlali baseMjondolo in December 2007, the directors compiled this short but powerful documentary which allows ordinary people to talk about their problems, anxieties and daily struggles. [...]