TREURGROND
DIRECTOR: Darrell Roodt
CAST: Steve Hofmeyr, Shaleen Surtie-Richards, Erica Wessels, Boikie Pholo, Jana Strydom, Andre Rauenstein, Graeme Kriega, Andre Frauenstein, Barbara Marie Immelman and Richard Lukunku
CLASSIFICATION: 16 L
RUNNING TIME: 91 minutes
RATING: ***
The local drama Treurgrond is so careful to give all sides of its decidedly scary story, that it never actually gets dramatic. While it does a serviceable job of contrasting the wholesome lives of the farmers and the horror of the attacks meted out on them for no discernable reason, it only ever paints the picture we already know.
Darrell Roodt’s trademark shots of wide vistas and close-ups of individual characters creates an idyllic rural image of farmer Lukas van Staden (Hofmeyr) as he goes about his daily life, consulting his main assistant Daniel Lebona (Pholo) and loving being a farmer.
At a town hall meeting about farm murders all the problems are unpacked in useful soundbytes and shots of Lukas’s brother André (Frauenstein) and his wife Christa (Immelman) conveniently give us the city-dweller’s perspective of farm life.
The opening images and initial set-up suggest we are about to step into a police procedural. Captain Helena Schoeman (Strydom) patiently leads rookie photographer, Sergeant Morena (Lukunku), through a farm murder crime scene and half of the film is centred on them trying to track down the culprits as they discover new crime scenes.
One of the more interesting parts is when Morena questions why the farmers are being targeted in such gruesome ways and they start to discuss what it would take for a person to kill in this way and why. This question is never pursued.
Another wasted opportunity is a sub-plot in which a land claim is instituted against the Van Staden farm on behalf of the workers by the son of Daniel Lebona, Edwin (Kriega).
Edwin questions whether Lukas’s father sent him to university out of the goodness of his heart or if he knew that one day the young black man would lay a claim to the farm. Again, an intriguing idea that opens up the emotive issue of land restitution and potentially guilt, but it does not get pursued.
Then there is the intriguing sub-plot involving criminally under-used Shaleen Surtie-Richard’s school teacher Katie (of no surname) and Lukas’ wife, Nettalie van Staden (Wessels). The hints of awkwardness in the way the teacher insists on calling the younger woman Mevrou and the way Nettalie feels they are being exploited by this teacher speaks to a very complex relationship – again, worth exploring.
The story of the Van Staden family builds up to a climax and a denouement, but again this a story that we know courtesy of the media. What we don’t know is who is doing it and why and the film doesn’t even hand us a conspiracy theory, but leaves us hanging.
Casting Hofmeyr as the farmer could be construed as clever marketing since he brings with him a particular market and the issue of farm murders does not get a lot of media space despite the sheer number of people affected. Yet, this film does not capitalise on the emotion of the issue, concentrating on the gruesome and horrifying aspect of murder over the thorny issues of why it is being done and why no one seems to get caught.
Roodt spends so much time trying to paint the Lukas character as this honourable salt-of-the-earth person that he doesn’t allow for any nuance of negativity. This is contrary to the baggage that Hofmeyr trails because of his controversial public statements around Afrikaner self-determination, which is what makes his casting so juicy. That dark streak is what makes him human and all the more interesting, but this Lukas character is bland in comparison to the real deal.
The other characters are the stereotypes we already know: the city-dwelling wife who just wants to spend money, the farmer’s wife who loves to bake, the well-meaning school teacher, the angry young black man who wants his restitution, the grateful older black worker who loves his job, the hard-drinking cop who just can’t catch a break.
There is a story here. It is just not told in this film with its amazingly emotive title that never follows through. Still, simply for painting a picture that is largely swept to the fringes of mainstream media, it cannot be faulted on its technical production, which is of a high standard, even if every fourth shot is for cringe-worthy product placement.
If you liked Faith Like Potatoes, you’ll like this.