WILD IS THE WIND

South Africa, 2022, 123 minutes, Colour.

Mothusi Magano, Frank Rautenbach, Mona Monyane, Nicolus Moitoi, Deon Coetzee Brendon Daniels, Michelle Douglas.

Directed by Fabian Medea.

This is a slice of life in South Africa in the 21^st-century, post-apartheid, the experience of change of government, government corruption, local corruption and the police, the effect on the police, on ordinary citizens.

The screenplay does not pull any punches about corruption and its effect on ordinary men who otherwise would have led a good life upholding the law. There is a prologue where the police take a bribe from a driver – and the indication that he has a woman, tortured, in the boot of his car. Audiences alert to the impact of this early scene will realise that in the police investigation of the murder of a young girl in the town, pressure on a suspect, that the driver is the person involved.

At the centre of the film are two police, partners, and effective performance from both actors, middle age, marriage, family difficulties, wanting something better, participating in the drug read and shooting the dealers and stealing the drugs and the black African, Vusi, doing the deal with local drug lord to get money especially to help his pregnant wife.

The film also give some background to life in the town, starting with the local butcher and his staff, his 18-year-old daughter, giving her permission to stay out with her friends – only to find that his daughter is brutally murdered.

Because of the political connections, the police have to give priority to the investigation, and because the two central police have found her body, they are in charge of the case. The white policeman decides that the nephew of the drug lord, seen in surveillance video with the murdered girl, is the murderer, arrests him, the brutal interrogation and bashing, then deceiving him into making his mark on a paper that he could not read which is a confession. The black policeman clashes with his friend, fighting him, drinks more, especially with his wife leaving him after she discovers his brutality bashing a man and then the issue of the money.

There is a dramatic climax when the mother of the murdered girl shoots the suspect publicly. The black policeman then goes in pursuit of the driver, DNA proof, the confrontation where he allows himself to be bashed by the murderer, some kind of atonement for guilt.

The film was very well received in South Africa.

1. The title, the final song, the whirlwind?
2. A South African story, post-apartheid, government, corruption, police, drugs and crime, family life, serial killer? The pessimistic story?
3. The location photography, the town, the surrounding mountains and valleys? The musical score?
4. The opening, Vusi and John, the bribe from the driver, the sadist with the tortured girl in the car boot? The indication immediately of who would be the villain?
5. Three years later, the character of Vusi, his relationship with his wife, tender, her pregnancy? Her work as a domestic? His work with the police, partnership with John over the years? With the police command? The raid, the shooting and deaths, the drugs, Vusi taking the drugs, going to Mongo, the deal, the money, Mongo and his thugs following Vusi? His wife discovering the money, seeing him in action bashing the man in the house, the decision to leave, packing, going to her mother, the car? Vusi and his work, the death of Melissa, the search for her, discovery of the body, the news to her parents, the mother’s outburst? The police meeting, the priority being given to discovering the murderer?
6. John, his family, partnership with a Vusi, his character, the friendship, impulsive, the shootout at the drug house? The search for Melissa, the command for priority on finding the killer? Sonnyboy, his relationship with Melissa in the video, the arrest, his running, the pursuit, bashing? The interrogation? The assumption that they had the murderer? His denials? John, the document, Sonnyboy putting an X, his confession? The challenge from Vusi for the alternate killer? The confrontation with John, punching him? John taking Sonnyboy to the court, the crowds and protest, Melissa’s father and the attempted shot, the mother and her anger, shooting Sonnyboy?
7. The subplot with Melissa, her father as the butcher, Hennie and his work, the past relationship with Melissa, broken? His being interrogated, his violence, the surveillance video? Her permission to be with her friends, the billiards, the club, Sonnyboy and the kiss? The later flashbacks to her being taken by the killer, the torment, her defiance, and death?
8. Mongo, drug lord, the woman associate and her style, the bar, his influence, the drug dealing, the thugs? The deal with Vusi, going back on it, the assaults on Vusi, his willingness to give back the money, its being taken? The raid, Sonny boy as his nephew?
9. Vusi, the clash with John, his drinking, his wife leaving, his collapse? The evidence from the video, the car, Sonnyboy identifying it? The DNA, the memory of the driver and the bribe in the past? Vusi driving to the countryside, the confrontation with the killer, the guns, the brutal fight, Vusi taking a bashing, some kind of compensation for guilt? Shooting the killer?
10. Bring him into the town, at the stop sign, the fire?
11. A South African slice of life in the 21^st-century?