Guerreiros de Marselha

Amazing little film, but unfortunately suffering of a weak directing and acting too. But the script is OK, good enough to try the watch. Thanks to netflix to have distributed it several years ago. But I am sure most world wide audiences have never heard of this film. However, I think it is a bit too long, it is not a Sergio Leone's film either. Maybe too ambitious for this film destined to the only South Africa territory. But maybe I am wrong.... And for those who may be misunderstand, Marseille here is in South Africa, and not in France. That's important to point it out. Good characters study, that's the main strength of this film.

NB: If you're Sotho, the accent and bad vocabulary will put you off. I'm glad I was told this before watching, so I went in prepared and told myself to ignore this.

Viewing quality - The scenery is absolutely breathtaking and the cameraman wasn't stingy at all. During scenes, the panning is very clean. The night shots aren't so great for me though. They were a little restrictive with the lighting. The colour scheme shows that the town has warm weather, however, I wish the night lighting would resemble shots like these[goo.gl/Njhfg7]. The night scenes should have been nice, crisp, night shots, but with a warm feel instead of the cold blue like the image on that link. I've noticed that a lot of South African films are a little behind when it comes to lighting.

Storyline - I will not be giving away much, but it's about a boy from a small oppressed town, who had to run away from his neighbourhood after doing something really bad and returned home as an adult only to find that the oppression hasn't changed - It is the oppressors who have changed. I'll refrain from adding to this to avoid giving spoilers.

Quality of play - Apart from the accent, the acting and film quality was perfect. There are quite a few mysteries that make you feel like it would be a good idea to watch the movie again, but not at the cinema. It doesn't feel like a rush.

Movie conclusion (my version) - You live by the gun, you die by the gun - Hence the constant and explicit 'voilence' references throughout the movie. The scene about the pastor at the very end sealed it for me. If you haven't watched you'll have to watch to understand.

Sigh.. Okay about the Sesotho - I think Michael Matthews disregarded the fact that a bad accent can affect a movie negatively. I'm not sure if the target market is international, but South Africans, including non-Sotho speaking South Africans could hear that the accent was very off. This was with almost all the actors, including the main actors. It seems like the line-up was more important though. After all, seeing who is starring is has a lot of people interested in the movie. If only the actors spoke proper Sesotho.

The visuals are great, the story watchable. An interesting study on how early childhood trauma can affects an individual psyche later in life, and how it affects different people in different ways/

The lead actor delivers a powerful convincing performance, as do most of the cast, even when the story lags as it does in parts. It would have been interesting to see a little more intra and interpersonal conflict, and I feel if this had been scripted, the story would have been riveting.

The landscape as a character is breathtaking, and supports the mood of the story beautifully. I wonder, will a sequel follow? I would certainly watch a sequel expecting this creative team to deliver an even better story!

Films coming out of South Africa are getting better & better. Last week i watched Catching Feelings and it was good. Yesterday i had to watch this one, who wouldn't after seeing the trailer and poster ? This film reminded me of Bruce Willis' 1996 cowboy movie Last Man Standing because they are alike. Difference is Fiver Fingers for Marseilles is not as straight forward and at 2 hours long it seems like 3 because the pacing is slow. The setting up of characters in this case epilogue is around 20 minutes. Then everything seem puzzling and you will ask yourself why, how, when. The biggest flaw is the script. It was written by a certain Sean Drummond who i presume is an English speaker and then given to a translator who did direct translation resulting in some dialogue/sayings/phrases being lost in the process. I don't even speak South African languages but i picked some of it. The other flaw is the casting. The younger Lerato of about 14 years old is light skinned (popularly known as yellow bones) as an adult woman she is now darker skinned which never happens thereby not making sense. It is mistakes like these that turn local audiences off because we feel we are being taken for granted. The bright side is the main cast is just brilliant. I had doubts about Vuyo Dabula's acting chops in Generations because he is one dimensional but now i am convinced he has talent. Hamilton Dhlamini who plays the villain is just magnificent that you would think he came out of a Hollywood horror movie. Veteran Kenneth Nkosi and newbie Zethu don't disappoint.

Keep it up guys.

I don't think it is a good thing to say "the movie meant well". The intentions were remarkable and the goal it set was admirable. But it is one of the more positive things I can say about this, wins and nominations for whatever aside. One of the best things of the movie for sure though, is its cinematography and the landscape we get to experience.

That alone may feel like worth your time. Then again there are nature documentaries for that. I do not want to sound to negative, because I clearly can feel what the movie was trying to do. Unfortunately the movie and its actors never reach the heights it sets out as goal. Especially some of the accents ... and having read a positive review of this were it is mentioned too ... it may throw you off. The pacing, while "consistent" is another major issue. It really starts to wear you off. Especially because the character may grab your attention for a minute or two, but never are able to hold it.

I really wanted to like this more, but I would not be true to myself if I just said it is great just because it is different. A shorter running time and a few changes might have done wonders ... and while I do not want to step on anyones foot, maybe some cast changes too