Genre-busting in SA
The genre film in SA has had a rocky history in post-apartheid cinema. There are a plethora of South African versions of mainstream Hollywood genres such as the romantic comedy, the road trip movie and the slasher film that have been made over the past two decades. They’re unfortunately mostly forgettable, insignificant and without much to offer other than the insertion of South African characters into familiar, easy-to-swallow bites of entertainment for local audiences that steer clear of tough questions, social interrogation or the exposure of the uncomfortable realities of South African life.
Occasionally, however, there are local filmmakers who see genre films as an opportunity to use genre conventions to both entertain audiences and interrogate the thorny issues afflicting SA. Director Jenna Bass’s Flatland is a modern Western, road trip, film noir mash up and overall it’s a welcome and successful use of genre to do something more than simply insert South African characters into a formulaic narrative.
Set in the dusty, desolate landscape of the part of the Karoo that extends along the N1 highway between Laingsburg, Leeu Gamka, Beaufort West and Cape Town, the story begins by throwing us into the claustrophobic life of Natalie Jonkers
(Nicole Fortuin), a sad and beautiful bride whose wedding to sweet nimrod police sergeant Bakkies Bezhuidenhout (De Klerk
Oelofse), is causing her nothing but fear, anxiety and depression. When their wedding night ends in marital rape, Nicole rushes to the comfort of the only thing she has in the world — her horse. There she’s accosted by the local Reverend Salmon (Maurice Capede), who implores her and then tries to beat her into submission to be a good wife. Things get nasty, a gun goes off and Nicole heads off into the night on her trusty steed.
She arrives at the house of her childhood friend, the rebellious and pregnant teen Poppie (Izel Bezhuidenhout) and together the two make their way to Beaufort West on the lam, looking to head into a new life in a big city anywhere but the Karoo; a place
Nicole’s late mother once told her is so flat you can see your future rolling in across the horizon towards you every day.
There’s also the character of Cape Town police detective Capt Beauty Cuba (Faith Baloyi), who is thrown into the drama of Nicole’s case when her ex-boyfriend, recently paroled convicted felon Billy (Brendon Daniels), is arrested for the murder of the reverend on his first day out of jail. Cuba’s love for Billy and her savvy police skills put her on the trail of the teens and into conflict with her former colleague, Bakkies’s father Jaap (Eric Nobbs).
Before the messy meeting of everyone involved and the twisty resolution of the plot, we’ll be introduced to dodgy predatory trucking lotharios, racist platteland tannies and all the life-sucking mind-numbing small-town attractions of daily life in the desolate Karoo. We’ll also have to tackle some tough questions about the many types of trashy attitudes men of all kinds place in the way of women everywhere and the ways in which our identities and attitudes are a product of our environment (but not necessarily immutable because of this).
Bass isn’t always slick when it comes to the handling of action set pieces but she has the ability to convey the humanity and inner life of her characters and the landscape in which the story takes place. The film is also lifted by the strength of the performances of the three women at its centre. Baloyi in particular stands out in a role that lets her have a roaring good time as she veers between its emotionally different but relatable peaks and troughs.
On one level Flatland is a post-apartheid, teenage Thelma & Louise set against the beautifully bleak landscape of the Karoo. On another it’s an exhilarating and complex tale of young women taking back their agency and toppling the comfortable but flimsy bricks of the patriarchy’s badly built but long-standing house. Flatland is a much-needed and ultimately smartly entertaining demonstration of how local filmmakers can work within and subvert genre for the greater purpose of proper reflection of the world that exists beyond the borders of the screen.