Material
DIRECTOR: Craig Freimond
CAST: Riaad Moosa, Vincent Ebrahim, Joey Rasdien, Royston Stoffels, Denise Newman
CLASSIFICATION: PG
RUNNING TIME: 98 minutes
RATING: ***
The Joburg suburb of Fordsburg makes its cinematic debut in this serio-comedy from Jozi director Craig Freimond.
Set mostly on the streets of the originally Indian community, as well as other familiar Joburg landmarks, Material features several familiar faces in the form of well-loved stand-up comedians and local actors.
Don’t be fooled by the Bolly number at the wedding in the beginning. This is not a Bollywood melodrama. The classical, string- heavy score is subtle and there’s a serious note beneath the occasional funny moment.
The story is centred on Cassim Kaif (popular comedian Riaad Moosa in his acting debut) who wants to be a stand-up comedian. So far so good because he’s close to Mellville and the stand-up circuit. Cassim’s father wants him to follow in the family business. Situated on the main street in Fordsburg, the family’s material shop is in dire straits. So, not so good anymore.
While Cassim is conscientious about helping his father, he really wants to become his own man, but tradition/custom/his very culture dictates that he listen to his father.
For all that Cassim spends a good amount of time on the comedy circuit – and there are several vignettes of him per- forming – the story concentrates on the family drama, not the stand-up.
It turns out the father is not only an obstinate old man who wants his way, but also has a long-standing feud with his brother Rafiq (played by Royston Stoffels with the most amazingly fake beard) about the family business, and this is where the film gets interesting.
Dad Ebrahim Kaif (Vincent Ebrahim) deliberately stayed out of the Oriental Plaza when Rafiq moved there, and the background is the forced removal of the Indian people in Gauteng and the establishment of the Oriental Plaza in the 1970s as a place to corral the Indian shop owners who had protested against their removal from Pageview.
What really happened is a long and complicated story, and there’s a sad and painful history that is reflected here which highlights a reality facing many South Africans today: how to let go of the painful past which has shaped their very existence.
“Is my history a joke to you?” Ebrahim asks Cassim when he watches him do stand-up for the first time – and therein lies the rub. Daily life goes on, and what is so painful to one generation is distant past to the next.
The daily rituals, of opening the shop, preparing for work, and the cultural rituals that make up Muslim life, are beautifully expressed in detail.
While director of photography Trevor Calverley and the art department worked within a very neutral palette, you still get a feel for the colour and texture that dominates the community.
So, too, the film gives you an insight into some of the knotty problems facing young South Africans who want to respect where they come from, but also create their own place in the world.
If you liked… Confessions of a Gambler… you will like this.