The wound

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Movie
German title The wound
Original title Inxeba
Country of production South Africa , Germany , France
original language Xhosa
Publishing year 2017
length 88 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director John Trengove
script John Trengove
production Elias Ribeiro ,
Cait Pansegrouw ,
Batana Vundla
music João Orecchia
camera Paul Ozgur
cut Matthew Swanepoel
occupation

The wound (original title Inxeba ) is a South African film drama by John Trengove , which celebrated its world premiere on January 22, 2017 as part of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition of the Sundance Film Festival . On February 9, 2017, the film opened the main panorama program of the 67th Berlinale , which focused on empowering black history .

action

A group of young men gather in a rural South African mountain region where an ancient, traditional xhosaic initiation ritual called Ukwaluka takes place; a circumcision ceremony designed to turn them into men. Among them is Kwanda, a teenage boy from Johannesburg whose father is a wealthy businessman who hails from that village and who decided to have his son go through this ritual. During the painful healing process, the 17-year-old is ostracized by many of the others, but Xolani, a shy boy from the village, offers to help. His friend Vitcha seems suspicious of the newly formed close bond between the two, and he tries to turn the other growing men against them.

Soon, Kwanda finally discovers the reason for Vitcha's atrocities, because Xolani and the married Vitcha have a secret love affair, which has been a well-kept secret until now. The two young men only ever show physicality in public in the form of violence. With the threat of Kwanda exposing her, Xolani has to make a terrible decision as a result of these circumstances, and a chain of tragic events is set in motion.

background

A group of young Xhosas after their circumcision

Ukwaluka is an ancient circumcision ritual used for the initiation of young men and which is still practiced in South Africa by the Xhosa people . Boys between the ages of 16 and 23 are circumcised on a mountain, which, in addition to becoming men, also marks the transition into adulthood . It is also believed that this ritual also heals from homosexual thoughts. In the Xhosa communities, as in many other African cultures, homosexuality is tolerated among adolescents, but not among adults.

Because circumcision is a delicate subject, details about the ceremony are kept secret and taboo. Another taboo is homosexuality. Violence against homosexuals occurs in much of Africa and faces the death penalty in countries such as Uganda and Zimbabwe . In the film, the director tries to combine these two taboo subjects, the background to the Ukwaluka ceremony and homosexuality in African culture, which have not yet been discussed and which are therefore little known. In his fictional story, the director uses the example of his protagonist to show what it is like when both taboo subjects suddenly become important in a young man's life. It was also important to him to show that lust and intimacy between men are as old as African culture itself, which is why he made the Ukwaluka ritual the starting point for his film.

production

Staff, cast and shooting

The film is a South African-German-Dutch-French co-production with the Brazilian Elias Ribeiro as a producer for Urucu Media. The production was also supported by The Hubert Bals Fund and ARTE International Prize and funded by the South African Ministry of Trade and Industry and the National Film and Video Foundation. In addition, the television rights to ARTE France and ZDF were pre-sold . The film was directed by John Trengove , who also wrote the screenplay for the film. It is Trengove's debut feature film, whose short film Ibhokhwe already addressed the subject of male circumcision. Trengove grew up in Johannesburg and later lived in Cape Town and New York, where he also obtained his master's degree in filmmaking. Prior to working on Die Wunde , Trengove worked for the theater, shooting commercials and a critically acclaimed miniseries titled Hopeville , which received multiple awards, including the Rose d'Or , and a nomination for the International Emmy Award .

For the director, who describes himself as an outsider, it was interesting to show what happens when young African men are torn out of their familiar surroundings and now have to live together. Trengove was particularly interested in showing how strong emotional and physical urges lead to toxicity within this group, but the director tried to bring his own value system into the story of the film. Trengove continued: “For a white man like me it is of course not uncomplicated to depict black, marginalized realities of life. In fact, it is highly problematic. It was important to me that the story of the film itself should reflect this problem. "

The writers Thando Mgqolozana and Malusi Bengu were also involved in the script work of the film . In 2009 Mgqolozana criticized the cruel practice in his book A Man Who Is Not A Man and told of his own bad experiences. Nelson Mandela first told of this mysterious rite back in 1994 in his book The Long Walk to Freedom .

Only male members of the Xhosa were hired as actors . For Nakhane Touré this is his first ever film role. Before that, the now openly homosexual Touré was already known as a singer in South Africa and received several awards for his musical work.

Most of the shooting took place in the Eastern Cape in South Africa , a province where 85 percent of the population are Xhosas. Filming began in May 2014 and ended the following winter. The total production costs amounted to around 500,000 euros.

publication

The film celebrated its world premiere on January 22, 2017 as part of the Sundance Film Festival , where it will be screened in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. On February 9, 2017, Die Wunde was presented as the opening film of the main Panorama program as part of the 67th Berlinale and was also shown here as part of the Teddy Awards , a separate competition. The film was released in French cinemas on April 19, 2017. In June 2017 the film opened the Tel Aviv LGBT Film Festival. Also in June 2017 the film was shown at the Sydney Film Festival . In South Africa, the film was presented for the first time on July 14, 2017 as part of the Durban International Film Festival. The film was shown in selected New York cinemas from August 16, 2017. In October 2017 there was a screening at the London Film Festival . At the Africa International Film Festival 2017 Die Wunde competed in the main competition.

reception

Age rating

In Germany the film is FSK 16 . The statement of reasons for the release states: “The film thematizes in a calm narrative style, with lots of dialogues and close to the characters, male role models between tradition and modernity. He can overwhelm children and young people under the age of 16 with some depictions of violence and sometimes sexuality characterized by violence as well as surprising, gloomy twists and turns. 16-year-olds can, however, distance themselves sufficiently, since the setting and the entire cultural background are far from their real life and the film also does not match their viewing habits stylistically. "

Reviews and grossing results

The film has so far won over 91 percent of Rotten Tomatoes critics and received an average rating of 7.3 out of a possible 10 points.

Guy Lodge from Variety describes the film as an uncompromising and excellently elaborated study of different clashing ideals of masculinity of the Xhosa , which not only opens the eyes of outsiders, but also some South Africans. According to Lodge, the film is rich in small details, and John Trengove, as a white filmmaker, chooses a cautious but not purely anthropological approach to investigate the demanding subject.

Paul Schulz from the gay lifestyle magazine Men says: “The tension that builds up inexorably during the film comes from the young Kwanda, who is increasingly questioning the patriarchal norms of initiation, and from the inner crisis that Xolani is going through. He has to choose between the traditional world he knows and his own self-realization . "

Selim Petersen from SRF says that when it comes to the South African gay drama, Brokeback Mountain looks like kid's stuff, and that the archaic circumcision ritual, which is supposed to turn boys into men and is the linchpin of the plot, literally gets under your skin. The plot also has some surprises in store, according to Petersen, and so compassion, desire and aggression are very close together in the feverish film about homosexuality , homophobia and masculinity, which can change the mood at any time. Petersen sums up, thanks to Die Wunde , the 67th Berlinale still lived up to its high standards.

Christian Berndt from Deutschlandradio says that the film conveys a lot of the existential significance of this group experience in both painterly and realistic images, but also shows the contradictions of a male society that is deeply homophobic but cultivates homoerotic rituals.

At the beginning of October 2017 it was announced that The Wound of South Africa had been submitted as a nomination in the category Best Foreign Language Film for the 2018 Academy Awards . After the announcement of this submission, tribal leaders of the Xhosa expressed fundamental reservations, as the rite of initiation of their ethnic group was placed in the foreground in the film . The transition of young people to the group of adults is a sacred process, and the producers made a joke of it, was the criticism. The chief spokesman said he was disappointed that the government allowed the film to be broadcast. In mid-December 2017 it was announced that the film had been shortlisted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences .

After its start in South Africa at the beginning of February 2018, the film reached number 6 on the local cinema charts.

Awards (selection)

Africa International Film Festival 2017

  • Nomination for best feature film in the main competition

African-American Film Critics Association Awards 2017

  • Award for best foreign language film

Black Reel Awards 2018

London Film Festival 2017

  • Award for Best First Feature (John Trengove)

Palm Springs International Film Festival 2018

  • Awarded the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actor in a Foreign Language Film (Nakhane Touré)

Sundance Film Festival 2017

  • Nomination as a competition film in the context of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition

Teddy Awards 2017

  • Nomination for best feature film

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for Die Wunde . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 168884 / K). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ a b c d The Wound In: 3continents.com. Accessed December 25, 2016 (PDF; 228 KB)
  3. ↑ a b Paul Schulz: Berlinale Day One: Let's go! In: m-maenner.de, February 9, 2017.
  4. ↑ Meet the Artist '17: John Trengove In: youtube.com. Retrieved January 14, 2017. (Video)
  5. ↑ Now on Queer Film Night: Gay in South Africa: Deadly Traditions In: queer.de, August 11, 2017.
  6. ↑ a b Sundance 2017 Preview: South African Drama 'The Wound' Wants to Challenge Narrow Depictions of 'African Masculinity' In: shadowandact.com, November 30, 2016.
  7. ↑ John Trengove and the Injured Manhood - Arte TRACKS . Archived from the original on January 14, 2018. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 15, 2018. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / tracks.arte.tv
  8. ↑ South Africa musician Nakhane Toure tackles gay themes In: bbc.com, April 4, 2016.
  9. ↑ 2017 Sundance Film Festival Printable Film Guide In: sundance.org. Retrieved December 17, 2016 (PDF; 17.8 MB)
  10. ↑ Devan Coggan: Sundance Film Festival announces first wave of 2017 films In: Entertainment Weekly, November 30, 2016.
  11. ↑ Press releases 67th Berlinale ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.berlinale.de archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: berlinale.de, December 20, 2016.
  12. ↑ 31st Teddy Award. Program Guide In: teddyaward.tv. Retrieved February 18, 2017 (PDF; 6 MB)
  13. ^ Johanna Mitz: All films at the 31st Teddy Award In: teddyaward.tv, January 31, 2017.
  14. ↑ 'Les Initiés' de John Trengove In: franceculture.fr. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
  15. ↑ Filmmakers pull out of Tel Aviv LGBT film festival citing Israel boycott - Jewish Telegraphic Agency .
  16. ↑ The Wound - TLVFest .
  17. ↑ Buy cinema tickets for The Wound - BFI London Film Festival 2017 .
  18. ↑ AFRIFF 2017 Program (Final Selection) In: afriff.com. Retrieved October 29, 2017.
  19. ^ Reason for release for Die Wunde In: Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Filmwirtschaft. Retrieved September 14, 2017.
  20. ↑ The Wound In: Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  21. ↑ Guy Lodge: Sundance Film Review: 'The Wound' In: Variety, Jan. 21, 2017.
  22. ↑ Selim Petersen: Von Gere und Hass: The 67th Berlinale, condensed into seven films In: SRF, February 13, 2017.
  23. ↑ Christian Berndt: Vorgespult In: Deutschlandradio, September 13, 2017. (Audio)
  24. ↑ Christopher Vourlias: South Africa Enters 'The Wound' in Foreign-Language Oscar Race In: Variety, October 1, 2017.
  25. ↑ South Africa: Tribal leaders criticize film "Die Wunde" In: Deutschlandfunk, October 2, 2017.
  26. ↑ http://www.channel24.co.za/Movies/News/south-africas-oscars-film-is-20171001
  27. ↑ Gregg Kilday: Oscars: Academy Unveils Foreign Language Film Shortlist In: The Hollywood Reporter, December 14, 2017.
  28. ↑ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&country=ZA&id=thewound.htm
  29. ↑ African American Film Critics Association named 'Get Out' the Top Film of 2017 ( Memento of the original from December 26, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / static1.squarespace.com archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: squarespace.com. Accessed January 7, 2018 (PDF; 545 KB)
  30. ↑ Get Out Dominates the Black Reel Awards In: blackreelawards.com, December 13, 2017.
  31. ↑ - The Washington Post . Archived from the original on October 15, 2017.
  32. ↑ Pat Saperstein: 'Félicité,' 'The Charmer' Among Palm Springs Film Festival Winners . January 14, 2018.