PLAYING as part of the NEW YORK AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL, THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 2008, 6:15PM
In five days the first South African democratic elections will take place, after which there will be majority rule under a Black government. Tensions are high thoughout the land, and no less so in Triomf, the poor white suburb of Johannesburg that was built on the ruins of the Black community of Sophiatown.
The Benade family, who’d be considered hillbillies in the USA, are so worried about the elections that they’re prepared for an escape north ‘when the shit hits the fan!’ Already, things are not what they used to be in Triomf with half-caste neighbors having rowdy barbecues, and there’s a Black family moving in. Sonny, who is an acquaintance of Lambert Banade, is waiting in the street to take back his stolen family land, upon which the Benade house now stands!
The action of the film revolves around Sonny, as well as around the dynamics within the Benade family. These are highly-strung, often horrendous and consistently hilarious.
It is the interaction between Uncle Treppie and the young Lambert that is the driving force behind the story. Treppie’s not just fed up with Lambert, but with the family’s poverty, their suffocating social isolation, and everything they stand for including their own history as Afrikaners, which he sees as clouded by lies and pretence. Treppie doesn’t really knojw what the solution to all this is, but the new South Africa is on its way and he wants drastic change.
Coincidence would have it that Lambert’s 21st birthday is on the first day of voting, and Uncle Treppie plans a special present for him: a meeting with a nice girl he’s met who might find a soft spot for Lambert. What Treppie really wants is to get Lambert out of the house and out of his life at any price.
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