Yesterday

Well, really just about living in Rural South Africa. Living in south Africa the HIV/AIDS pandemic (and governments response to it), can make one feel very depressed about the where South Africa is going. But this movie is quite uplifting. Yesterday faces a number of hardships already (she lives in relative poverty, separated from husband for most of year, no education), but she when she comes across another, HIV/AIDS, she faces it head on. She is determined to that her daughter will get an education. Because she has this to fight for, she stays positive. When the doctor comments on how well she is doing, she comments it is her mind that is strong, not her body. Mental strength is something needed all round SA in fighting the Pandemic. From patients, but also their communities, so that HIV positive people will find support rather than stigmatization.

Hey

I have read all the comments that were left about "Yesterday",and even though a lot of the thoughts were negative,let me just clear something up. I am a South African,born and raised,and currently living in the U.S.A.I have met a lot of Americans who are so naive about the conditions in South-Africa and Africa in general. It has been such an honor and shock for something from south Africa to be nominated for an Oscar and almost brought a lot of Africans together.Sure we did not win,but the point was clearly to point out what is really going on.and even though it is sad to admit but it is the truth.I read a comment where someone said that the characters were too "sainty" etc,but the truth is,that is rural life.They are naive and choose not to believe the doom of Aids. All we can hope for is that things get better and people get more educated as to the truth(although it might be difficult considering the fact that half the population does not finish high school and cannot read or write,how would they understand that a little virus in your bloodstream kills you???)

An achingly beautiful film that is truly sublime in its simplicity. Leleti Khumalo, who plays "Yesterday", is utter enveloping to watch as she juggles her relationship with her daughter Beauty, her chores that are a matter of survival in the Zulu village, and her secret of a virus that will "stop her from living." Her strength and warmth in her vision of people even clouds her judgement when it comes to her relationship with her husband who works far away in Johannesburg. When the doctor at the clinic asks her how she got named "Yesterday," she answers: "It was my father. He always thought yesterday was better than today or tomorrow. But that was a long time ago."

Yesteday was an impressive movie for me since I have never looked at AIDS in such a near and tangible way.The start point of the movie is a long road in African beautiful deserts where is restricted with barbed wire from the rest of the world. When you see the sky and the earth touch each other as they are ready to press a young slim black woman and her little daughter. Yesterday has a nice innocent face which crystalizes her heartily pain and eagerness to keep on for Beauty very well. The little girl,named Beauty,is the representative of a new African generation,not satisfied with her primitive life, asks about being a bird to fly or having a motorcycle to be speedy and comfortable.That is admirable while Yesterday illiterate is so ambitious for Beauty to start school.It gives you the sense of progress of the continent which always was narrated inferior and savage. Another justification the movie gives for African roughness is the low-level facilities exist.Yesterday and her husband are victims of AIDS because poverty makes them so far from each other that her husband betrays the family for whom day and night he overworks. Yesterday's illness is also distinguished very late and she should make a quarantine for her husband when there is no bed for him in the hospital.However, it sounds people got used to it and even such a terrible disease is faced with deep understanding but coldness. The movie is very female-oriented in a society which looks a masculine one.The most successful and efficient characters are women like Yesterday,the teacher and the doctor. Yesterday is the representative of the traditional society,too. She is given AIDS by her husband, but she bears his kicks and harshness. The movie music which is African well transfers the nature of Africa to the audience. The movie clearly is ordered to inform about AIDS but in an efficient story and setting.

YESTERDAY is a film that settles into your heart to remind us how treasureable life is. Few films made with such utter simplicity of focus have addressed a world crisis issue in the form of one couple than this and for that reason alone this film should be widely seen. But there are many other reasons to pay attention to this South African movie.

Yesterday (Leleti Khumalo) is an eloquently beautiful Zulu woman who discovers she has been infected with HIV from her coal miner husband (Kenneth Khambula). She confronts him with that fact and his response is embarrassed rage and physical abuse. Yesterday is concerned that her daughter live to attend school and have a chance at a better life. She is befriended by the school teacher (Harriet Lenabe) and by the doctor in whom she confides (Camilla Walker). Growing ill from AIDS, Yesterday's husband returns home and seeks Yesterday's succor and forgiveness on his deathbed. The power of Yesterday's spirit only grows stronger with every sad reality of her life: she is determined to stay alive until her daughter is safely in school and the future that transition promises.

Each of these actors provide astonishing performances, so delicately nuanced that they are able to pry open the heart. The majestically beautiful scenery of South Africa, with its mist-clothed mountains and far reaching stretches of horizons, plays an important role in this story: nature remains the guardian of mortals. Director and writer Darrell Roodt has a little masterpiece of a film here and one that deserves all of our attention. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp