A mega-violent depiction of Cape Town life in a new movie called Zulu, has been labelled as a wake-up call for Capetonians.
|||Cape Town - A mega-violent depiction of Cape Town life in a new movie has been praised as an urgent wake-up call for Capetonians, but others warn it could damage the city’s reputation.
Zulu is a violent portrayal of SA gang culture and is directed by Jérôme Salle and stars Forest Whitaker, Orlando Bloom and several South African actors. The film closed the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday night and “paints a highly cynical picture of post-colonial Cape Town, one in which authorities are corrupt and vigilante justice is king”, Sapa-AP reports.
Based on author Caryl Ferey’s book of the same title, Zulu centres on two Cape Town detectives who are called in to investigate the murder of a Springbok rugby player’s 18-year-old daughter.
Whitaker plays chief detective Ali Sokhela of Cape Town’s “serious violent crime unit”.
“I met the actual gang members from the different communities: the Zulu gang leaders, and the different members out of the prisons,” Whitaker told the Huffington Post. “I find that it helps to find the source of the character.”
Sapa-AP reported: “Though the film’s barbaric depiction of torture and murder has been panned by some critics as too showy - severed heads, rapes and graphic mutilations - Whitaker said the film was accurate in its portrayal of gangland violence.
“There were a number of ‘necklacings’ in Khayelitsha, even while we were there,” said Whitaker.
Bloom stars as Brian Epkeen, a white officer and Sokhela’s subordinate whose family was originally involved in the establishment of apartheid.
Alan Winde, provincial MEC for Finance and Tourism, said in response: “We sure do have our problems with gang violence. We can’t shy away from them.
“We are in a constant process of exercising our minds around how to tackle these key challenges.”
But just as portrayals of the worst of Cape Town held substantial truth, so did the fact that Cape Town was frequently lauded - its World Design Capital 2014 bid was successful, and the fact that several Cape Town hotels had recently received nominations as the best on the continent.
“The reality is that we have different aspects to our city,” Winde said.
“We promote the film industry and sometimes they will tell it like it is, sometimes they will exaggerate - good or bad.”
Cape Argus