 | Yesterday Director: Darrell James Roodt Rated M Nova Cinema  In the last decade there's been a plethora of worthy movies and television series focusing on the HIV virus and AIDS from a Western perspective. Indeed, in the quarter century since AIDS was first detected, we've moved - with the benefit of education - from shock, fear, blame and prejudice to at least a detectable level of tolerance. That is the Western experience. In 'Yesterday' Darrell James Roodt presents the African experience - and it couldn't be more grim or desperate.The film begins with a glorious panoramic shot of Zululand and tracks across to two lonely figures, Yesterday (Lileti Khumalo) and her daughter Beauty (Lihle Myelase), on a two-hour walk from their rural village to the nearest medical clinic. After arriving and waiting for hours, they are turned away as the clinic has seen its quota of patients for the day. After a second failed attempt a few days later, Yesterday finally gets to see the doctor when the new teacher in the village (Harriet Lehabe) arranges a taxi to get her to the clinic early. Yesterday is diagnosed with AIDS contracted from her absent husband John (Kenneth Kambule) - a miner in Johannesburg. When Yesterday travels to Jo'burg to tell him of her condition, he beats her savagely. Ironically, John is forced to return to the village shortly afterwards to die when he becomes stricken with the final stages of the illness. The core of the movie is Yesterday's heroic battle to care for John and herself, and in particular - her dream to live long enough to see Beauty start school, something the illiterate Yesterday had never experienced. There are only six featured characters in the film, and Roodt casts each one as a metaphor in the bigger picture. Yesterday is the victim whom the director hopes will become an important memory and Beauty signifies the optimistic future. The teacher and the clinic doctor (Camilla Walker) personify the voices of reason battling the ignorance of the village 'sangoma' (Nandi Nyembe). Roodt's view of John, the archetypal male, is more ambivalent. When the dying John tells Beauty, 'When I was your age, I used to roam this land like a leopard', there is a sense of a leopard's majesty, but also of its violence. The seventh unbilled character is the landscape itself- symbolic of both Africa and the rest of the world looking on indifferently. In one scene Yesterday stands facing the horizon and wails frustratedly in anger and despair. However, to categorise 'Yesterday' as a message movie would detract from the humanity in the story, the skill in Roodt's direction and Lileti Khumalo's luminous performance. When she arrives back at the village after being diagnosed, Yesterday gazes at her daughter at play. Beauty turns and smiles and Yesterday smiles back trying to mask her pain at knowing she will never see Beauty grow up. It was simple, poignant and universal in its ability to move. Perhaps out of awareness that the sad storyline might only have limited appeal, Palace has released 'Yesterday' at the Nova with only two daily sessions. It would be a great shame if it disappears quickly. The subject matter is too significant, the quality of the product, undeniable. While Africa might be classed as a developing continent, 'Yesterday' and the wonderful 'Moolaade' show that its cinema can compete with the best.  | |
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