BALLADE VIR ’N ENKELING
DIRECTOR: Qeuntin Krog
CAST: Armand Aucamp, Donnalee Roberts, Rolanda Marais, Jacques Bessenger, Cindy Swanepoel, Helen Lombard
CLASSIFICATION: 16 LV
RUNNING TIME: 136 minutes
RATING: ***
When it comes to Afrikaans tv series of the ’80s, the one with the best name surely had to be Ballade vir ’n Enkeling. It suggests sweeping, romantic epic, doesn’t it? And, the tv series certainly delivered with a great storyline, strong acting and a haunting soundtrack.
The Film Factory team have modernised that exact storyline, glossing over some character details (like, there’s no Chivas in this film… that’s a character from the original series). But, all in all it totally still hangs together as its own, albeit a bit too long, entity.
The basic plot is that tabloid journalist Carina Human (Roberts) is instructed by her smut-hungry news editor to figure out what lies behind the disappearance of popular writer Jacques Rynhard (Aucamp). Despite her lofty ideals to only write the truth, Carina is intrigued by all manner of clues and starts delving deep into the writer’s history.
The story goes back and forth in time as she discovers more and you as the viewer are privy to his teenage years, which she only reads about in his diary.
Knowing the original storyline is actually a hindrance because you pre-empt what plays out in front of you, taking away any sense of suspense and mystery the film creates. It is fun, though, to see how the familiar characters are re-interpreted through a contemporary frame (like, originally a hotshot crime journalist, this Carina Human is turned into a newbie at a tabloid).
The Film Factory production team do a truly great job on the technical side – the lighting is incredibly beautiful, framing and art direction gorgeous and it looks amazing.
Much of the story centres on the relationship between three of the main characters, Rynhard and his two childhood friends, Jan-Paul Otto (Bessenger) and Lena Aucamp (Marais). Ultimately, this relationship forms each of them more than any other events in their lives.
Aucamp is handsome as the missing writer seen through the lens of others right up to the end of the film, but he doesn’t seem as much of a tortured soul as intense Bessenger’s Jan-Paul, while Marais ably creates a conflicted character. Young Edwin van der Walt does a better job as the young Rynhard who only sees the good in everyone.
The scene in which the three first meet as teens may seem like an opportunity to sink into sentimentality, but the look of it is so natural that their behaviour seems the most natural thing in the world.
While it is new artists singing Koos du Plessis’s original music, the songs still add a wistful edge for those familiar with the original series. Otherwise the soundtrack simply adds a haunting emotional dimension to the characters.
Rynhard’s fascination with trains is a visual motif that remains from the tv series, albeit on a smaller scale. Joburg’s Maboneng Precinct becomes an intriguing playground for much of the film, very vibey in contrast to the dead-boring railway houses of his childhood.
If you watched every episode back in ’87 this will come as a huge dollop of nostalgia, but if you are unfamiliar with the story then this is a huge step up from recent Afrikaans rom-coms Mooirivier and Knysna, even if it could do with a bit of judicous pruning.
Filmed entirely in Afrikaans, the English subtitles are well translated and run below the picture so they don’t interfere with what you see.
If you liked Ouma se Slim Kind or the original TV series, you will like this.
The decade that keeps on giving
IT DOESN’T always work to remake a succesful tv series or film from the ’80s because themes we cared about then don’t necessarily still resonate today.
This film remake of Ballade vir ’n Enkeling mostly works though, because relationships never go out of style and at the heart of the mystery drama lies a complicated threesome.
The ’80s have never really gone out of style on the big screen either, even if it means remaking the film or tv series in a contemporary setting. Robocop, The A Team, Charlie’s Angels, Transformers, Mission Impossible, Miami Vice, it’s the list that just keeps on giving.
It’s also about to give us Twin Peaks. Okay, that’s technically ’90s, but the residents of that idiosyncratic town were still very much stuck in the ’80s, so let’s go with the idea.
Anyway, apparently plans are still under way for Kyle McLachlen to reprise his Agent Cooper role in a nine-episode series slated for viewing in October next year. But, whether it is set in the now, the way back when or a made up version of either is up in the air, because an interview show creator David Lynch recently did in Australia seems to suggest he still hasn’t signed a contract with Showtime.
Terminator Genisys releases this year, as does Mad Max: Fury Road on May 15 (though to be fair the first Mad Max movie was from ’79), Poltergeist (May 29) and also apparently Jem and the Holograms (Nov 6).