Sometimes hope lies in the most unlikely places

BEAUTIFULLY lensed, Uitvlucht is a very well-meaning Afrikaans drama. It simultaneously tells three intertwined stories which are all meant to remind you that love conquers all.

It starts with a gorgeous tracking shot of the Langkloof region (just north of George), and the film is peppered with dreamy wide-screen images of the area’s natural bounty.

The film is framed by an angry Willie (Berning) who decamps to a B&B in a huff because his marriage is falling apart. The B&B owner (Trichardt) tells him the story of heart-sore Anna (Joubert, pictured), a teacher who had come to work at a nearby farm school.

Devastated by bad choices that have left her divorced and alienated from her children, Anna throws herself into teaching the grade R class and tries not to notice when the local farmer, Dok (Bam), shyly professes an interest in her. Dok takes his time in courting her, recognising her broken trust issues.

Then the eduction story angle starts coming through as Anna and her fellow teachers (Levenberg, Luyt) have to deal with drunken parents, child abuse, societal apathy and dwindling resources.

It takes quite a while of bewildered watching before you realise that the Anna/Dok story is set in the past. The farmer’s patronising attitude and the farmworkers’ subservience and ignorance starts making sense when you realise Anna’s time is just as Nelson Mandela is being released from prison.

Flitting back to Willie and the B&B owner’s conversation breaks the rhythm of Anna and Dok’s story, and by the end of the film the school angle gains more prominence as education as a means to escape your circumstances is foregrounded. This is the well-meaning part which really needs its own documentary.

Amid the schoolkids are some gems of performances – like Petersen’s turn as loyal Pieta who looks after Dok’s father.

A heavy reliance on God’s mercy to sort out everyone’s problems, from Dok trying to persuade Anna to lighten up to schoolparents talking to teachers, comes through strongly.

Highlighting the coloured farmworkers’ plight is commendable, but that storyline fights for attention with the Dok/Anna love story – to Anna, the school and job represent a way out, but the people at Uitvlucht (a real farm school) don’t have a way out, other than the education they are being denied.

Make up your own mind about who wins once you have seen the last scene. If you liked The Kalahari Horse Whisperer, you will like this.