Vento Selvagem

Comes out of nowhere this South African drama with great actors which are not very well known in the US. Filmed in the traditional South African dialect, English viewers will need closed captions to understand the dialogues.

The engrossing crime drama is about searching for the responsible person(s) for the rape and murder of an18 years old white girl in a town, woven with racial distrust, inequality, injustice, and corruption.

The film starts with two police officers stopping a car for speeding. Unbeknownst to the police, the driver has a ducked-up woman in the trunk. They accept a cash bribe instead of searching the car. They later learn that a woman was burnt to death in the same car. This event changes the officer's played Mothusi Mogano's life. He occasionally sees her, directing him toward the clues.

It is solid entertainment and a great performance. A Must watch!

The action scenes are stealthy, but the anticipation slowly fades into the background as the script gets a bit dense in highlighting other social issues. The racially fuelled opening fades into the background as the script explores other dire needs of the community who have fallen into poverty and are desperate to get themselves out of it. Medea wants to highlight the endless cycle that occurs in the area and how corruption is perceived. It is more so character-driven, as the police officers are polar opposites of one another. One is more level-headed, and the other is a hothead with a short fuse, which ends up being quite problematic.

*didn't show too much racial tension as opposed to other problems.

African crime/narc/thriller movies that includes corrupt cop or maybe they say kopjes, spinning around in the transvaal region i guess, usually brings you into quite some realistic stuff, harsh and tough they act in this movie, that have the racial balance as a meter of issuance.

They are usually wellmade and thourough in their making, but this one slips a bit on, maybe not the main cast, the support and extras that fills the frame. It feels instructive behind the camera, and the lack of heartfelt acting shines through. It maybe amateur issues or just directional fits of action.

But youll get thrill for your money even if they come in a rand-omized order, so a small recommend from the grumpy old man.

Netflix does a good job and suggesting movies to watch based on your rating. Sometimes they hit it, sometimes not. This one was killer.

The story was total allegory, based on a true or not, but the allegory is true.

Corruption and envy, and "keep the man down". It is presented in a subtle and measured story (good writing and directing), the actors are spot on, particularly the one who plays the black detective, there is a scene when he is in a car lamenting, wow.

The soundtrack is interesting, the words to the selected songs are appropriate, but sometimes the mood the music sets doesn't match the scene, but overall, the soundtrack is wonderful, especially "Oh My Lord".

This movie has a lot of heart, and I am glad I watched it.

The film offers an interesting view of a South African town and township and highlights the continuing inequality characterizing South Africa. The town very much has the feel of a southern town in the US in the 1960's where racial inequality was stark, racial attitudes and privileges were potent and very much in your face, even as many in society tried to move forward. The take of the criminals in the black community justifying their criminality as a reasonable response to racism was compelling and the tension between the white and black cops felt authentic. There are no purely good guys in the movie (though there are a couple of good, very noble women) and only one irredeemably evil guy. On the whole I thought it was a very good flick, if a bit melodramatic. It didn't offer the relatively happy ending I was expecting, but it was perhaps more realistic as a result. Innocent people are sometimes railroaded, police do knowingly charge innocent people if they're under duress to produce a suspect and in South Africa and in the South Africa, murders of whites still prompt more vigorous efforts by authorities to find the killers than murders of black people. It isn't a pleasant film and it doesn't say much positive about human nature, but it's a good movie.