Thought-provoking film deals with TB
As an aspirant musician and miner, a young man’s dreams are shaken by reality when he falls ill Breaking stigmas and stereotypes
EVERY single day, hundreds of thousands of South African men and women descend kilometres underground to extract precious minerals that are a driving force of the economy.
Underground, the air is thick and hot.
While many of the country’s larger mines have methods and systems in place to control the underground dust created by the drilling and blasting, for a majority of these men and women the systems fail to protect them against two deadly and prominent diseases facing miners – tuberculosis and silicosis.
TB is the biggest infectious killer in South Africa, with statistics from 2011 indicating that there were an estimated 760 000 new cases of TB related to the local mining sector.
And a new film to indicate just how grim the realities are in terms of the health risk these miners face was aired this week on Dstv’s TLC entertainment channel.
To raise more awareness on this issue, Discovery Learning Alliance – with support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Wellcome Trust and Management Sciences for Health – produced The Lucky Specials.
Oros Mampofu, previously known for his role in local soapie Skeem Saam, talked about the complexities of trying to portray his character, Mandla, in the film.
His character, a young man, dreams of being a famous musician. He is the lead guitarist and singer for his band, The Lucky Specials. But his day job remains working at a gold mine where he eventually contracts TB.
The film was produced by local company Quizzical Pictures, and aims to entertain and educate audiences across sub-saharan Africa and empower communities to make informed decisions about their health and to replace misconceptions about the disease.
It explains how TB spreads and how it can be cured, and also shows the journey of the disease inside the body The Lucky Specials. Skeem Saam, through state-of-the-art animation. The film will also be a Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action, addressing the critical need for behaviour change around tuberculosis across the African continent.
The repeat will be screened today at 8pm on TLC Entertainment. WE ASKED Oros Mampofu about his role and what he had learnt from delving into the subject of TB:
Before accepting the role, what did you know about TB and what did you learn during the process?
I had the basic knowledge of the disease from my high school education and having seen peers and extended relatives with the disease. But it was a pretty basic perspective of it.
During the process of making the film I realised there was a lot I was unaware of, such as the medication process and just exactly how much it takes out of a person and how long it takes.
It was very eye-opening but also refreshing to see the power we have as South Africans to overcome the illness if we choose to stay on the path with medication.
Did you actually go underground to experience a typical day in the life of a miner? If so, what were your thoughts on the conditions?
We went to places where they did underground work to train miners – sort of a simulation room which mimics the conditions miners work under.
Did you identify or relate to any aspects of your character personally?
Absolutely – Mandla is a musician and I, having been a churchgoer for most of my life, have been exposed to many genres of music as well. I am very passionate about music.
Another great aspect of Mandla is that he is a dreamer. It just humbled me to realise the role we as storytellers have to tell of the human condition.
How did the role help you grow as an actor? What did you learn that you hadn’t known?
We as actors have a huge responsibility and a lot of power because we are, in essence, reflecting these issues to society and these stories have a strong effect on people.
It was a physically challenging role for me to depict a young man with TB. I did a lot of running to lose weight.
Sometimes I wouldn’t eat for some time before shooting just to bring out that realness of hunger and so that I could connect to it.
This movie focuses on the threat of TB. What advice would you give the youth about making informed health decisions?
It will enlighten a lot of people, not just me, on how easy it is to fall prey to this disease.
But it also empowers us to get more knowledge on it and break away from the stereotypes and stigmas attached to it.