Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema

Lucky is a young black man in South Africa, who feels the oppression of apartheid. Once the apartheid ends, though... the life for blacks gets no easier. In his own form of affirmative action, he helps grow a large, powerful gang to get ahead. Is it right or wrong, and was it necessary?

Ralph Ziman is a director from South Africa. While he started of in music video, once he came into his own, he told the tale of South Africa with a passion that no one else has yet matched. Recent films like "Invictus" or "District 9" try to capture the spirit, and in some ways do, but Ziman has it inside him and has the talent to let it out.

I must say, there was an unfortunate naming choice with "Gangster's Paradise", and this gives it a cheaper feel. The original title, "Jerusalema", was more than adequate and gives the film a mature moniker that it richly deserves. I am not sure who felt American audiences couldn't handle the original title, but they have done the film a great disservice.

We have seen our share of South Central Los Angeles gang movies. Here is a film that has parallels, but offers an interesting moral perspective on a racial, global issue. Can you empathize with a thieving thug? If you watch this film, you just might.

Tsotsi is nothing compared to Jerusalema. Finally a real South African movie that can hold its head up high. Totally authentic, all respect to those involved. A mirror on Jozi and what our lives are really like. I hope other film makers will take note and pull their sox up. It's time to stop being embarrassed about being South African and take pride in our local industry. I strongly recommend all South Africans and go and see it on the big screen as the producers intended. I'm gonna spread the word. And please, do not by pirated DVD's; help enable the local movie industry to grow... I loved this movie. I cannot say it enough times. I am speechless. KUDOS MZANSI.

A movie that speaks to the core of the human spirit. As much as the movie is South African, anyone who has been faced with hardship will relate. Our dreams, when they shatter and fade painfully silently and the dark talents we discover in desperation for a moment to live the life we once aspired to. Seiphemo, Zekele and the supporting cast are brilliant on a script that pulls no punches, with impeccable direction. The overall execution leaves no vague on what goes wrong and how it becomes celebrated as fruits of crime are reaped and shared by even the most moral in our lives. South African cinema has moved to the next stage in evolution i.e. reflection on some of the darker sides of the new South Africa. A masterpiece.

If you thought Tsotsi was brilliant, Jerusalema will blow you away. It's about determination and hope. I've never seen such an apt depiction of township life. Big -up 2 the producers for the angle they took. I loved the music and how they tied Jerusalema with the lead characters' praying mother! A must see, for inspiration if nothing else!

Guys lets praise SA for producing such an magnificent movie in the international screens, u better start going to the cinemas to watch the awesome job did by our camera men, editors and directors etc. Big up Mzantsi Big up.

DIRECTOR Ralph Ziman's vivid, action-packed South African gangster epic makes for exciting big screen entertainment. Highly commercial and hardly politically correct, but reeking with authenticity, the aptly and ironically titled "Jerusalema" offers cinema-goers the same sort of tough, high-energy thrills as crime epics like "Scarface", "American Gangster" and "City of God". Unlike "Tsotsi", it's not out win awards, or to preach about the struggle. It's out to please crowds. Yet, while telling a strong, funny, gripping, well-acted story of a young gangster's rise to power, it also manages to paint a devastating picture of how and why crime has spiraled out of control in the new South Africa. Telling its tale on a broad canvas, it begins in Soweto in the early 1990s, introducing the audience to two teenage boys, Lucky Kunene (Jafta Mamabolo) and his best friend Zakes (Motlatsi Mahloko). Lucky is an intelligent, ambitious youngster from a poor single parent home who is accepted into university. He doesn't, however, get a bursary, so he tries to earn money through various legitimate schemes. None of which succeed. Eventually he and Zakes are sucked into crime though their relationship with Nazareth (a potent Jeffrey Sekele), an angry disaffected, former ANC guerilla. And soon they're hijacking cars ("affirmative repossession", says Nazareth). But, after a botched robbery and a near fatal encounter with the police, the lads must flee to the "jungles" of Hillbrow. Cut to five years later. Lucky and Zakes (now played by Rapulana Seiphemo and Ronnie Nyakale) are operating a pirate Taxi and scraping by. It's a dangerous life and when armed rivals steal their taxi, Lucky decides to return to crime. "Jeruselema" might shock some middle-class viewers, but it is riveting fare and the crowd I saw it with clapped and cheered along with the action. The charismatic Seiphemo delivers a stunning performance - turning Lucky into a surprisingly sympathetic anti-hero, and he's superbly supported by Nyakale, Sekele and a devilish Malusi Skenjana, who plays a slimy Nigerian drug dealer. Then there are the great action scenes and the powerful underlying themes. This vibrant, violent, colorful, authentic crime thriller, which pays homage to Michael Mann's classic, "Heat" heralds a new dawn in South African film-making and is highly recommended to audiences looking for top notch entertainment.