Cape Of Good Hope (2004/South Africa)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: C+
Mark
Bamford’s Cape Of Good Hope is an
award-winning if somewhat predictable story of the lives of various people in
post-apartheid South Africa, set at an animal rescue shelter. Sharifa wants a child, but is having
difficulty conceiving. Kate prefers dogs
to people, who she gets along with better.
Jean Claude is at an impasse in his life, not knowing if he should stay
or go. This could be melodramatic, but
Bamford (who co-wrote the screenplay with Suzanne Kay) shows an edgier side to
the country where racial indifference still lingers and women & children
still get the worst end of things.
The
country’s well-known legacy haunts the film in subtle, implicit ways that makes
events that happen in even the more predictable parts easier to take. The film is touted as a romantic comedy, but
that will particularly set up false expectations for a U.S. audience who can
only associate that term with fluff films from Hollywood that get increasingly
worse. You would never see this kind of
poverty, sex and violence in such a film with stars like Julia Roberts or
Sandra Bullock. No wonder some people
may have taken even a perverse pleasure in this film.
The
letterboxed 1.78 X 1 image is soft and pasty throughout, but the scenery is
worth catching since we see so few productions from this part of the
world. The Dolby Digital 5.0 mix is not
bad for a low-budget production, but has fidelity limits and surrounds are only
so major. Extras include an on-camera
interview with director Bamford and actor Eriq Ebouaney, as well as the
original trailer.
- Nicholas Sheffo
