A River Within - Gemeinsam gegen den Strom

I'm so happy to see South Africa abandoned their obligatory political element in movies and reverted to good storytelling instead - as before.

DonnaLee Roberts has proven herself a versatile actress within a very short space of time. She also wrote 'Stroomop' (meaning 'Upstream'). 'Stroomop' is an emotionally charged adventure drama containing so many elements we can relate to. The nature scenery makes for stunning cinematography, and the film has an unusual serene and beautiful score.

Five women seeing a psychiatrist are advised to go on a trip to clear their minds, and be in touch with their inner selves - and to forget about reality for a moment. Each character is fighting her own inner demons, and the reasons for their breakdown are shown through back flashes. With fate having intervened in their once happy lives, we root for each character.

A Guide, Guy (Armand Aucamp) accompanies them on the trip, but the adventure soon turns to nightmare. With obstacles along the way, every moment becomes a quest for survival. In the process they learn more about each other, and themselves.

Although the film is mostly a bit depressing, it is also uplifting and inspirational, and an effective illustration of courage. This certainly is one of the better offerings from South Africa lately.

We thouroughly enjoyed this movie. It had substance, intrigue, a gentle unfolding of characters. It had beautiful cinematography and whoever did the editing also did a fantastic job.

I think there is a trend with South African Directors to cast people that they think people like to see on screen but not people who can in certainly act. These method faces that are bought onto screens to fill seats like Simone, Donna and in some cases films Neels usually backfire in the box office. The rest of this cast are veteran A class actors, but sorry do not mix in these chocolate box soap stars in with seasoned actors that take away from the actual narrative with lack of acting abilities. If a South African Director for once can cast just veteran actors and exclude the young soap stars and instagram pick me girls then maybe they can win a award at Sundance of perhaps even more. External commissioners and buyers al have the same opinion.

This is one of the best Afrikaans movies. The storyline is therapeutic and touches on so many typical situations people encounter. The sound is very clear and the music extremely fitting to each scene. The videography makes you feel you are participating in the adventure down the river.