ive read so many (usa) reviews about the “unbelievable main character” and the “fake accent” and to any south african Wikus is 100% typical of our own red neck those-who-never-apply for passports true blue south african. we all know lots of south africans who speak and act and (unfortunately) think exactly like wikus.

there is a huge problem with nigerian violence, scams and drug trafficking in SA and the locals have been protesting about it. Our malawian gardener who comes to us once a week always gets himself robbed by nigerians when returning to the townships, we have opened a bank account for him so that doesnt carry cash anymore. Our friends in JHB had their son killed because a nigerian gang kidnapped him and asked for a ransom, which our friends paid for, and they killed him anyway. So yes, its very very appropriate to include them in the movie.

The ruwandans, mocambiqueans, botswananas, malawians and all manner of neighbouring africans who have flocked into SA are corralled into the worst parts of every township and are called “aliens” locally.

Racism? Well the white guys are depicted as the baddies and the black guys in MNU are the nicest humans so the racist card is not that clear.

I find it amusing that people who would walk out of a movie only 20 minutes into it can write reviews and have any sort of intelligent opinion. The director clearly states that he didnt need to patronise the audience by explaining every little angle and leaves much to audience.

A good movie is one that gets people thinking and talking and this movie sure does that !!

I understood the brilliance of the movie when seeing it the second time and so much fell into place that I couldnt take in the first time because it was so intense.

Hopefully the academy will do their due diligence and try and understand the social and criminal context, the accent and ignore some of the super ignorant reviews that have been written by folk who cant understand a movie unless it spoonfeeds and stars Will Smith !!

the lead character is also entirely believable. he is a classic example of a beaurocrat brought up in an apartheid era: a slightly nerdy, sweet individual with a critically flawed outlook on how to treat those that aere physically and culturally different.

it was also refreshing to see the use of black characters in roles that were unaccepting of the aliens. in south africa, tribal racism is highly evident amongst the black population (just ask any somali living in south africa; derogatory names such as “makweri” are just as prominent in black culture as names like “kaffir” are in old-school white culture.

we have witnessed in south africa the establishments of refugee camps to house foreigners. we have seen the reluctance of those refugees to leave the camps (despite the squalor).

just a few thoughts…

This thing had all the usual explosions, but most of all it had intellectual content. I’m not a fan of other stuff like “The Piano”, but this gave me just the right mix. Definately worth the ten bucks.

No.

I live in Johannesburg (An African New York/LA built on the back of massive gold mines). I grew up in Cape Town – quite possibly one of the worlds most beautiful cities (equivalent in part to San Francisco), and lived for 10 years in the UK (London) before moving back to SA ‘cos I missed the sun and the people too much!

For more info on South Africa look at the following websites:

1) Great explanation of South Africa for those who wnat to know more: http://www.roughguides.com/website/travel/destination/content/default.aspx?titleid=35&xid=idh124789184_0006

2) Best news site for SA: http://www.news24.com/Content

3) Tongue in cheek Social commentary/infotainment and the Nations Number one blog: http://www.2oceansvibe.com/

4) Bridget Jones Style blog of girl living in Johannesburg: http://mushypeasontoast.blogspot.com/

Cheers
Greg