U-Carmen eKhayelitsha

How can I watch it? saw it years back loved it and want to share

I don't know why I can't find this movie anywhere in the USA. I saw it in London shortly after it was released. U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha is a departure from the usual movie story-telling. It is novel in it's entire mix of opera and life. It suspends reality right in the middle of reality. It is gorgeous - the colors, the acting, the music and the storyline of course. If you don't walk out with a deeper love of South Africa then you must have closed your eyes. This is such a joyous movie. A must-see particularly if you've had enough of the usual fare. U-Carmen forced me to the realization that Hollywood is formulaic in ways so ingrained I don't even notice. But watch this movie and the cobwebs of Hollywood will be swept away with the banality of your everyday life.

Call me a softy, or sentimental, but merging two ancient traditions to see it not only work but enforce each other is nothing short of a miracle. I think it's a victory for the human experience to discover that boundaries are artificial and should be disposed of. I think the clinking and clonking of the stairs and the passing trains during the final scene are plea for honesty and integrity in contemporary cinema. It also shows how stuck up we are in today's operatic environment. The ability to suggest leniency towards what is real in this movie is absolutely brilliant. Watching a movie like this one gives me hope that there are still people out there who believe movie making is a form of expression of what we believe freedom should feel like. Another encouraging element is the sense of community that this movie is exhaling without romanticizing the life of the poor; they're proud of their community, they're proud of their traditions and they love to show it (although no animals were harmed). The only problem I have is that I will never be able to see Carmen, the opera, in the traditional way again. On the other hand, think of the possibilities, Hamlet in the rain forest, Ibsen in Tehran, Brecht in Mumbai - thinks are looking up in the world.

The modern south African set up of "Carmen" does not spoil one bit the thrill of this all times love story. One does not need to reside in SA to understand the local drama and flavor added to the story. This country is vibrant and full of color and rhythm and thus a local "Carmen" brings up the best in it. The production is sang in Xhosa, one of the 11 official languages of SA and subtitled in English. It is set up in Khayelitsha, a township near Cape Town. It stars Pauline Malefane, a professional singer who grew up in Khayelitsha and who translated the script into Xhosa. It won critical acclaim when it premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Golden Bear award. A must see for all opera lovers and not only.

I had seen two of the most fascinating film versions of "Carmen" in the mid-Eighties: (a) Francesco Rosi's Italian version that won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award with two of the most accomplished tenors (Placido Domingo and Ruggero Raimondi) playing leads roles that had spoken dialogs to punctuate the singing, and (b) Carlos Suara's Spanish version with flamingo dancers that won a Prize at Montreal film festival and a Bodil award for the Best European film. It was difficult to conceive that another production could be made to outshine either of these. Yet here was a South African director making a version of Carmen (his debut at that) in South Africa's tongue clicking Xhosa language capturing all the elements of accomplished filmmakers Rosi and Suara with a felicity of a veteran filmmaker to walk way with a Golden Bear at the Berlin Festival this year.

A bullfight in Cape Town shantytown suburbs? Director Mark Dornford-May suggests the bullfight with a single shot of a bull in a paddock, an actor holding a dagger, and the sound of an animal in pain—nothing else. Sex is suggested off-screen, never shown. The story and music of the Opera Carmen is retained religiously with local color thrown in: a Bible-reading police sergeant who had earlier killed his own brother and glibly lied to his own mother and police about the incident, women who taunt men in almost equal terms, and the singing talent of black South Africans. This was a major film at the just concluded Dubai International Film Festival.

There are two ways to enjoy the film: (a) Imbibe the variation of presenting the famous musical work in an unusual setting and (b) savor the film as a documentary of modern-day urban South Africa without the music/operatic songs. Either way you will have a treat. I have been to South Africa and what is shown is very close to reality.

The film belongs to the lead actress Pauline Melafane who exudes sensuality, without having to take off her clothes and is the epitome of the opening line: " ..for every fault she had a quality that came out from the contrast…" Her screen presence is incredible and outshines all Carmens on screen to date that I have seen. She is able to blend tragedy and cocky image of a college going student (forget that she is playing an illiterate shantytown dweller!).

Director Dornford-May achieves two objectives with this work: he proves Bizet's Carmen is universal not mere European and that opera can be well produced in obscure languages if there was a will and talent. Bizet would have been proud. The red (the primal color of bullfights) color comes to the fore only in the finale as the color worn by the women and the sheet covering the dead. To win a Golden Bear for a debut film is no mean achievement—more so when the experiment has been attempted by others in the past. The director injected realism in this film, not being limited to mere romance and gallantry—in fact Carmen's lover in this film is an anti-hero, a liar, and a modern-day Cain seeking forgiveness. Rosi and Suara need to take a back seat!