South African Classics: Katrina (1969)

[Trevor]

One of the all time best films made in South Africa: a searing indictment of the horrors of the apartheid laws and the tragic life story of a woman who falls in love with an alcoholic minister, only to have her past come back to haunt her and then kill her.

Devastating, emotional and if you don't shed a tear at the end, you don't have a soul at all.

[Pilgermann]

Thanks for bringing some of these films to our attention!  I'll have to check this out sometime.

[Trevor]

Thanks for bringing some of these films to our attention!  I'll have to check this out sometime.

No problem: KATRINA can be bought at www.kalahari.com/dvd/Katrina/2/33927089.aspx 

More to come and all available to buy at the above online store.

[Newt]

I just now finished watching Katrina.  It has something of a Greek tragedy about it, but is very much about the humanity of those involved.  I don't think an outsider could have made this film at all: there is depth and complexity in perspectives here that well might have evaded capture.   I can see why both 'sides' on the issue of apartheid found they could appreciate - even praise - it as a film.  Thank you Trevor!

[Trevor]

I just now finished watching Katrina.  It has something of a Greek tragedy about it, but is very much about the humanity of those involved. 

In those days, if a SA filmmaker wanted to get a message across, he/she would have to sneak the message in: witness Jannie Totsiens presenting the 1970 SA situation in the form of functioning lunatics in an asylum. 

I don't think an outsider could have made this film at all: there is depth and complexity in perspectives here that well might have evaded capture.  I can see why both 'sides' on the issue of apartheid found they could appreciate - even praise - it as a film. 

Now you see why I loathe films like Cry Freedom and Lethal Weapon 2 made by filmmakers who ignore their own countries' troubles and focus on us instead.................Hey: I just got two ideas for two reviews! 

Thank you Trevor!

My pleasure: a film made by two mentors of mine for a special lady.