By Selma Neshiko
WINDHOEK– Just like everyone else I was very much excited to watch the most awaited movie, Katutura, and I must say it was worth the wait, this movie deserves an Oscar.
There is so much to say about this movie and I wouldn’t mind watching it again. Life and tough times of the underclass is the primary objects of the movie. Katutura is an excellent film with spotless acting. It undeniably leaves an audience astonished. Katutura unties our eyes to a world so unlike our own that we can’t help but be altered and moved. There might have been exaggeration of violence but the movie being a fiction it’s characteristically fascinating (nothing commands our attention faster than a gestured gun), but also because stories about the down and out almost always convey a tarnishing weight. The film encloses action scenes and violence which creates a thrilling and delightful story. It awakens the people to the realities of a tough saga of a struggle and recovery set in a township like Katutura, and it takes more than just one trial to break through.
All the main acts are fresh and natural – notably Odile Muller, Gift Uzera (Kondja), Jacob Shivute (Gary), Obed Emvula (Shivago) and Chops Tshoopara (Dangi) in the lead – and the set design delightedly conveys a place where nobody would want to live of choice. The story follows numerous characters as their lives overlap: a former convict (Dangi) trying to stay on the straight and narrow; a gangster (Shivago) seeking to open up new markets for his drug trade; and a wheelchair-bound teen (Kondja) who helps street kids and fall in love for the first time. I couldn’t believe that I actually found myself warmly caught in the film that more than once I had to hold back tears.
I haven’t experienced life like what is portrayed in the movie Katutura but it was great to see Katutura on screen in one hot film, the production people surely knew what they where doing, this is a great film with good casts and a great direction. Yes there might be a little similarity to “City of God” or “Tsotsi” but there is some much more going on in Katutura that many can relate to too. This feat of a production will surely pave the way for Namibian films to become steadier on the international cinema platforms and gives hope for a filmic future of our country.