While "The Wound" deals with very important subject matters, it does suffer a bit from being overlong and occasionally losing focus because of this.
One thing not mentioned in the film is that South Africa has the highest HIV infection rate in the world...with a lot of misinformation as well. I've spent about a month or more there and love the country...but know they have to face up to their HIV problem much more seriously. So, this makes the story MUCH more important and timely.
The story is set at an initiation camp where Xhosa boys are initiated into manhood. In addition to a circumcision (owch!), these teens go through many days of training and initiation. The story primarily focuses on Xolani, a man designated a 'caretaker' over a city boy brought to toughen him up and get him in touch with his roots. But Xolani hides a secret...he's not so much there because he loves helping with the ceremonies...he's there for Vija, another caretaker who he's in love with and keeps this a secret. This is because Vija is married to a woman and has kids...and he hides his homosexual relationship with Xolani. But the young man being initiated realizes that Xolani and Vija are in love and makes the mistake of talking to Xolani about this.
Much of the film is about masculinity and how some perceive that masculinity equates to being straight. There is no room in this initiation for homosexuality...and this is interesting. But, as I said above, the film often goes off in other directions and doesn't hone in often enough on this. Worth seeing but it isn't as strong a message as it could have been.
