’N MAN SOOS MY PA
DIRECTOR: Sean Else
CAST: Sandra Prinsloo, Albert Maritz, Neels van Jaarsveld, Antoinette Louw, Deon Lotz, Vilje Maritz, Elma Postma, Greg Kriek, Shimmy Isaacs
CLASSIFICATION: 13 LV
RUNNING TIME: 125 minutes
RATING: 4 stars (out of 5)
Theresa Smith
TOUCHING on themes of secrecy, guilt, shame and reconciliation Afrikaans drama ’n Man Soos My Pa is made up of a series of finely drawn portraits that are both very particular and universal.
Using a well-chosen ensemble cast, director Sean Else brings his own script to life with an assured touch, both recreating a very familiar reality while still telling an unique story.
Jingle writer Juan (Kriek) and his wife Ellie (Postma) and young son Matthew (Jean Huisamen) return to Cape Town from their life in England when he discovers his mother Nakkie (Prinsloo) is dying.
Nakkie insists she wants her conflicted son to reconcile with his alcoholic dad Attie (Maritz) but all the younger man remembers of his childhood is disappointment and shame and though he wants to be with his mother he intensely dislikes his father… though it’s probably more a case of Juan hating who he is himself, because of his father.
The bulk of the responsibility in creating the Attie and Nakkie characters lie with Neels van Jaarsveld and Antoinette Louw. Sandra Prinsloo and Albert Maritz very ably take those characters into old age.
Younger Attie is the fun dad who teaches his child to use his imagination, but doesn’t see how his free-wheeling booze-fuelled shenanigans hurt his wife and child, emotionally or socially.
Maritz carries all that guilt in his eyes and the hesitant way he acts around the emotionally repressed Juan while they restore a vintage car as per Nakkie’s express wishes.
Sandra Prinsloo’s pain manifests itself in a more physical manner, what with the dying part, but she still conveys the steely pride of the younger Nakkie and Antoinette Louw is a delicate mixture of pragmatism and hope.
As grandma Nakkie tries to teach her English grandchild to speak Afrikaans, the family spend time together and relax enough around each other for the secrets to start coming out, despite everyone’s intentions to behave in order not to upset the dying woman. And this is the meat all of us recognise.
Filmed around Boston, Bellville and Durbanville the physical sets, prop and characters makes the Afrikaans language usage, mannerisms and set dressing very particular. Also, the repression of emotion – especially in the male characters, with Deon Lotz’s soldier character storyline just begging for its own movie – makes it very Afrikaner. But, the idea that families keep secrets, guilt around younger generations moving to different countries for a different lifestyle and older parents dying when you are far away, these are universal themes we all face.
Juan and Ellie’s expat experience has taken them very far outside of the culture they grew up in, but they boomerang right back when confronted by familiar foods, smells and people, while the older couple’s pride in their children’s accomplishments is tinged with shame that they couldn’t provide this experience back home.
If you liked Smoke Signals or any of the Wes Anderson movies, you will enjoy this one.