Gugu & Andile

While its true that this film is squarely planted on the age-old yet exploited-to-death Romeo and Juliet template, which will be a caution to many, the relief comes in the form of a conscious attitude that turns a tiresome imprimatur into an ironic frame for the brutal reality of bitter history. The more significant basis for the film is the warfare that was ravaging the South African townships in the early nineties and the internecine tribal friction that it ignited. The sharply divided tribal lines are what challenge a sixteen-year-old Zulu girl (Gugu) and an eighteen-year-old Xhosa boy (Andile) to cross forbidden borders of initiatory love and social restriction. Originally shot for television, the process of whittling this narrative down to essentials for feature presentation has provided it with a distinct passacaglia of relentless tension.