Ay movie
gay relationship with a white man
time when not only the ANC was illegal but when homosexuality was illegal and interracial sex was illegal.’ Now he has the right to say that. But public opinion hobbles way behind
Constitution.” Krouse says a key consideration the writing process was that
those decisions [the characters] had to make came out
distinctly South African quandaries or dilemmas”. There are several points which the film moves into unabashed didacticism, be
in dinnertime conversations, in gloomy lecture halls, or
Khayelitsha’s dimly lit corners.
At a function in Dez and Terri’s ample suburban home, guests bemoan being turned into heteronormative citizens”
the Constitution. “We’re
the park with our two-yearolds,” says Dez.
It’s not marriage that makes us straight, it’s having children.”
In an art class, Mack discusses the labelling of activist-photographer Zanele Muholi’s photos of lesbian women as “pornographic” by Lulu Xingwana, then the minister of arts and culture, before gleefully asking: “What is the minister’s assumption about the nation?”
Asanda responds: “That the nation is heterosexual.”
For all its slick cinematography, its urgent pace and eclectic soundtrack, While You Weren’t Looking is not a story without its blind spots. As the power dynamics of race are squarely addressed some of the class tensions explored in the film lead to an almost one-dimensional, perpetually angry underclass.
The thugs of Khayelitsha are always scowling, impulsively bent on blood, while the tommy boys overcompensate accordingly.
The difficulty the filmmakers must have had in weaving some of the narrative strands together is sometimes apparent. Some of the storylines are left hanging.
Stewart says fitting the characters into position was structurally easy, “but then to think about how to adjust their climaxes and their themes and resonances so that they work together and seem to speak to each other — it was quite complex. So it was great that the writers trusted us in that workshop process.” Co-writer Jephta says she believes a fair balance was achieved, resulting in an attentiongrabbing film. “I think this created a very absorbing film, where I definitely think all the separate storytelling strands were done justice to. I think this kind of narrative relies on the audience to choose its protagonist — to pick the person you most identify with in thestory, and then watch the film through that lens.”