In this very South African documentary about the strained relationships between property developers and slum housed residents in inner-city Johannesburg, we’re taken on a pedestrian view of the “hijacked” buildings where slum lords and thugs charge the extremely poor (read car guards and domestic workers) tenants rent, but use the money collected for their own gains instead of fixing broken windows, plumbing and electricity. The doccie tries to draw some parallels and make social commentary about the government choosing to fix infrastructure in preparation for the World Cup, while a large demographic lived in absolute squalor.
It’s pretty interesting as we’re taken through a series of case studies that are filmed in a refreshingly humane way, versus the usual “gritty” stance that most directors feel they need to take when filming Jo’burg. What’s also great is the fact that we get to listen to both the haves and the have-nots and in this way the viewer is presented with a more robust understanding of the problems that both parties have to deal with on a daily basis. Because of this, dare I say, gentle angle, it manages to humanise some of the property developers who are generally seen as heartless bastards. There’s a particularly lively scene where immigrants voice their opinion on being evicted from a block of flats; and are met by a completely rational and decidedly non-asshole response from the owner of the block of flats in question, which effectively highlights the problem from both sides of the proverbial tracks. It was these testimonials from the tenants of these slum apartments that made the film worth watching -they were quite heart-wrenching and one of the theatre-goers in my screening, burst into uncontrollable sobs when a slum lord insisted that an 8-month pregnant woman be woken up to clean up sewage so that she may earn her stay in the apartment block. It was really great to watch a documentary about our country, where we were enabled to empathise with fellow Saffas who lived without any ablutions, used illegal electricity and feared for their safety and property at every turn, which let’s face it is not a Joburg specific problem. On the flipside, testimonials from supposed experts were mostly trite; particularly the commentary from two gormless human rights lawyers who gestured a lot and used many words to convey their left-wing, bleeding heart stance, but managed to impart nothing of any substance.
Testimonials aside, the pace of the documentary was a bit erratic for my taste with the viewer not really being guided to a conclusion, which could be blamed on the narration. The film visuals were informative, emotional and honest, but then marred by the corny and forced emotional narration which, even worse, was conducted by someone with a displaced South London accent. What a Hackney accent is doing narrating an intrinsically South African documentary is beyond me. Later on, the narrator would make his debut on film, where his annoying narration was matched only by his smarmy on-screen presence.
So, basically, besides that guy and a few useless comments from “experts” it was a really honest documentary with uncontrived visuals and a message that wasn’t instructional. That’s possibly/probably because the documentary itself was a little confused with the point it would’ve liked to make, but it did leave you to think about the state of our country and fellow South Africans who live in sub-human conditions. I don’t know that this is going to win any international awards, but I do recommend you see it anyway if just to see how the other half lives, regardless of which half you are.
By Niki - Jay Bougaard
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