As "Amandla" (2022 release from South Africa; 106 min.) opens, we are introduced to 2 boys, Impi who celebrates his 11th birthday, and his younger brother Nkosana. It is "the Miller Farm, South Africa, 1897", and the boys live with their parents as servants to Boss Jakob and his family. Impi has a crush on Elizabeth, Boss Jakob's daughter, but one day they are found out, and it sets into motion a series of events nobody could've foreseen...
Couple of comments: this is a true South African production, set in and around Johannesburg and its surrounding township slums. This is the directing debut of South African actress Nerina De Jager. Much of the film's dialogue is in one of the Zulu languages (among the blacks) and Afrikaans (among the whites). The main story line is in essence a variation of the Cain and Abel bible story, but set in modern day South Africa, mostly playing out in the mid/late 1990s. To say those were tumultuous times would be a Manhattan-sized understatement, with continuing tensions between the black and white communities and the harsh conditions of the gang crime-infested townships like Soweto. Please note there are several scenes in the film that may make you uncomfortable. Bottom line: this is a tough yet moving siblings relationship drama that plays out in the later years of apartheid and then the early years of the Mandela era.
"Amandla" premiered last weekend on Netflix, and I watched it last night. If you are in the mood for a tough yet moving siblings relationship drama set in modern South Africa, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.
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