Lucky

Lucky (2011/IV) written and directed by Avie Luthra, is a difficult--but excellent--film from South Africa. Sihle Dlamini plays Lucky, a ten-year-old boy who is forced by grim circumstances to leave his village and travel to the city. Life was hard in the country, but life in the city is harder. The only relative Lucky has is his uncle, who barely tolerates him. Lucky wants to go to school, recognizing this is the only path out of poverty and despair. His uncle has other priorities. Lucky's only ally is an older Indian woman, Padma, played by Jayashree Basavaraj.

This is definitely not a feel-good movie. Not only does Padma mistrust Lucky, but her caste apparently forbids her to touch him, or to touch anything he has touched. It's definitely an unlikely friendship, and director Luthra doesn't soften the difficulties with a love-conquers-all approach.

The sad thing is that Lucky doesn't demand much or even expect much from relatives or from society. His wish is simple. He just wants to go to school.

Very good movie. If you like movies about strength in the face of adversity, foreign films, and bigger than life messages, the tension in this lasts all through the movie. It is like the South African film 'Yesterday". I would not recommend it to the sock 'em action film crowd.

The story is about a child from a small village in South Africa that looks like hell, filled with old people in falling down huts. After becoming an orphan he goes to the city; and it is a large city, in order to go to school and be a success.

But when he gets there he finds he has to enlist the help of some worthless or reluctant adults to achieve his goals.

I must tell you from the first tear, I knew that this film was going to break me, and then the beauty and strength of that child, I tell you I was done. Thank you for showing the village life, and thank you for showing the truth about families not having enough money to send their children to school. Without saying a word, that illness sat right there on screen and looked us in our faces!

This story of a little boy, abandoned, left alone is hard to watch.

The ups and downs of humane actions on his behalf drives the plot. We think he is saved, but he is not. We feel inspired, then not. The flip flop of emotion is constant. So is the persistence of this little boy. He just never gives up!

I feel inspired by the boy. If you get your kids to watch this, they'd probably learn a lot, but with the subtitles and small amount of English language its probably hard for kids to watch.

One thing that is somewhat hard to believe, is the folks driving the boy all over the country at all hours. I find it inspiring, but unbelievable.

The real conditions of the world are shown. The shack, the apartments, and all.

I also found it very interesting how the grandma got custody to take care of the boy gathering a pension of sorts for it. Unbelievable!