Rehad Desai
South Africa | 2014 | 86 min
Languages : English, Xhosa, Zulu
Subtitles : English, French
An essential and powerful document, a dive, with neither a mask nor oxygen, into the heart of the Marikana massacre in South Africa in 2012. Following the miners’ strike for better wage conditions, the police injured 112 innocent workers and killed 34, claiming self- defence. Rehad Desai goes over the days that preceded this tragic event, an indelible chapter of recent South African history. The powerful archive images - also gathered from the forces of law and order - confront us with the fragility of the new democracy that was so anticipated after the Apartheid years. The film retraces with rare accuracy the escalation of violence that led to the massacre and the reactions that followed. By letting different figures from the workers’ movement speak, it lets us hear their questions and follow their attempts at negotiation. And through a perspective on the political and economic issues that are hidden behind this terrifying killing, it is also a question here of an approach that is necessary to finally make the picture clear.
Jasmin Basic
Trailer
inarossow@web.de+49162 3809888