Ballade vir ‘n Enkeling [Ballad for a Loner] (***)
Directed by: Quentin Krog
Starring: Donnalee Roberts, Armand
Aucamp, Rolanda Marais, Jacques Bessenger, Cindy Swanepoel, Edwin van der Walt,
Christia Visser, Luan Jacobs, Helene Lombard, Dorette Potgieter, Drikus
Volschenk, Zak Hendrikz, Miles Petzer
Seen: March 28th 2015
*** Out of ****
Ballade vir ‘n Enkeling is a bit of a
gamble, a movie remake of/homage to an almost 30 year old South African TV
series. In our South African movie market it has limited nostalgic value (the
main movie demographic, younger viewers, don’t know about the series), and from
what I’ve seen over the years (working in a video store) the majority of our
public moviegoers are somewhat drama-shy. I think it works though; it’s a good
movie, it’s well-produced (extremely well-produced by South African standards, I’d
say), and the cast carries the weight, inhabiting characters who are classics
in the South African entertainment industry. The almost legendary South African
writer and film critic Leon van Nierop wrote the original series, and now he
has written a novel of the same name to delve deeper into the story. It’s
semi-autobiographical – inspired by Van Nierop’s early years living close to
the train tracks, but also fictional – a what if story; what if Van Nierop’s
parents had not been as wonderful in real life, but turned out like Klaus
(Volschenk) and Liebet (Lombard), parents of the main character Jacques Rynhard
(played by Edwin van der Walt as teenager and Armand Aucamp as adult).
Jacques Rynhard is a new giant in
Afrikaans literature, and on the evening of being awarded the Basson prize for
literature, he disappears. Carina Human (Roberts), a somewhat failed, somewhat junior
reporter at a gossip magazine called Montage (located mere floors below the
offices of the reputable Rapport), is given an assignment by her boss Gavin
Greeff (Hendrikz): find the filth and expose Jacques Rynhard as a fraud, make
his disappearance nothing more than an attention grab for publicity. Carina
starts investigating, and as she delves deeper into Jacques’ life and meets his
friends and family, she uncovers a darker story of betrayal and lost love and some
very unfortunate and horrible events. She finds Jacques’ best friends from
school, his girlfriend Lena (Marais, Visser in flashbacks) and best friend
Jan-Paul (Bessenger, Jacobs in flashbacks), who both have only the highest
praise for him. Soon enough she is on a mission to uncover the truth as a
journalist with integrity rather than simply writing a hatchet-job-sensation-seeker
article for Montage, and the truth goes deeper and in different directions than
could be expected or predicted (provided you didn’t watch the 80’s TV series).
I found the movie to be well-paced
with a structure greatly aiding the storytelling. Stunningly filmed, it looked
better than most South African productions, and I’d love it if we can make more
movies like this. The story is engaging and interesting, with an authentic
South African flavour. If one thing bothered me a bit it was the supposedly
honour-bound Carina Human threatening a few too many people with Montage’s
reputation for writing smut in attempts to get interviews, but it does drive
the story towards its well-deserved conclusion.
Ballade vir ‘n Enkeling is a
refreshing mainstream South African movie to watch in a time where it seems as
if, for a while, the only thing we were capable of making were romantic
comedies (some terrible, some passable, some actually good – see Pad Na Jou
Hart) or teenage comedies (mostly movies I try to avoid if I can). This one is
a good movie, and I’m glad to have seen it.
Comments