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The Appropriate Tune: "Gumba Fire", by Ashiko
The concept of a ‘foreign’ western movie, by which I mean made outside of the United States, never fails to do my head in a little. A foreign romcom? Sure, lots of people can fall in love and laugh along the way. Foreign horror? A lot of people are scared of stuff. The Western genre however was built on around a specific time and place, that of the American Southwest in the late 1800s, which is a lot less universal than ghosts or awkward first dates. Or so it would seem, and yet the history of this blog would indicate otherwise. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, one of most highly regarded of the genre, was by Italian Sergio Leone and was of Italian stock. Vladimir Motyl’s Soviet oestern White Sun of the Desert, and of course Alejandro Jodorowsky’s psycho-religious journey known as El Topo. Europe westerns, Asian westerns, South American westerns, why not throw an African western in there then?
Released in 1985 through Conyl Films, Revenge was produced and directed by Coenie Dippenaar. Alex Ngubene plays Cijimpi Shala, an aspiring farmer who has moved his family (a wife and son) to their new farm near the town of Sunrise. When they arrive at the town however they find it to be a hive of scum and villainy, run by a gang of vagabonds. The Shala family ignore them, eager to start their new lives as homesteaders, but of course things can’t be that easy and the gang quickly set their sights on the vulnerable. What is a man like Cijimpi to do when the lives of his family are threatened? Does he turn the other cheek, seek out financial restitution, or does he formulate cold, calculated vengeance? Well in a film like Revenge it’s hard to tell, you’re going to have to watch it for yourself.
I feel it would be an error to talk about Revenge though without acknowledging its background. This is a South African film, and the South African state at the time were still engaged in the malignant system of Apartheid. Revenge then is not entirely unlike Eleven P.M. which I covered earlier this year in that they are both ‘race films’; born from the contradiction of capital’s need for profit and its desire to uphold a racist system of segregation. That we can watch this movie at all in 2020 is something of a small blessing actually, this is a restored version put out by Gravel Road Entertainment Group, as many such films from that period were not preserved and are thus lost. Disposable films for what the South African state considered disposable people.
So to criticize Revenge for looking cheap feels superfluous, as it’s not like they had much choice in the matter, but I have to give Dippenaar and his crew credit for what they did accomplish. They may not have had the budget to make Sunrise into a full-fledged town (made rather obvious during the scene where Cijimpi is drug through town), but they have horses. They have a saloon, and ten gallon hats and revolvers and one man’s search for justice in a lawless world. It may falter when compared to the work of John Ford or Sergio Leone, the grassy hills of South Africa may not resemble Dodge City but in form and essence Revenge is a western, which is damn impressive.
One can also respect that no matter what the purpose of these films were that Dippenaar still takes some artistic risks. I really like the camera work at the beginning of the film when the Shala family first arrives at Sunrise, particularly the slinking first person viewpoint outside but even the first scene inside the bar has some interesting camera angles as I recall. A fair amount of slow motion during the gunfight scenes as well, a bloodless nod to Peckinpah and the 70’s neo-westerns I imagine. Except for the one scene where they blow a snake the fuck up I guess.
Before I get accused of pandering I’d say the biggest issue with Revenge is in the editing. I don’t know if this was how the film was originally or this was Gravel Road doing what they could with the footage they recovered, but there are several noticeable errors. Noticeable cuts in the middle of scenes, scenes that linger for too long, scenes with redundant information, and so on. Of course if they didn’t get much time to make the movie they likely get much to edit it, but really the art of filmmaking is editing. The best acting or script can be reduced to nothing with the power of the edit, so it can’t be taken lightly. Revenge is already under an hour long (assuming this restored version is the complete film), so some more time in the booth definitely could have helped smooth out the rough edges and made it a more streamlined experience.
Ultimately Revenge gets the recommendation. For the novelty of being a western movie from South Africa, for its historical significance, and because it’s an entertaining film in spite of its limitations. As I said it’s also under an hour, so not a huge time investment if you’re worried about that. Slytherins beware, but everyone else should check it out.
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