Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema
This South African movie tracks the rise of a once-petty criminal to the heights of the criminal underworld. After cutting his teeth on hijacking, before moving onto bigger game, an ambitious man hits a setback when most of his gang are shot.
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- Cast:
- Robert Hobbs , Jeffrey Zekele , Jafta Mamabolo , Rapulana Seiphemo , Kenneth Nkosi
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Reviews
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
A South African Scarface but with a far more likable lead who does whine constantly when he doesn't get his way like Tony Montana did, and overall less of an a-hole lol.Anyway it's a definitely above average gangster-epos amazingly enough done with just 2 million dollars, it doesn't look cheap by any means.Compare that with for instance 'PUBLIC ENEMIES (2009)' which cost 50 times more at 100 million dollars, sure that was filmed in the US and had a all star Hollywood cast but this movie is still a bit better on most levels and if it is that cheap to make movies in South Africa then more people should do it.Good performances all around, yeah nothing to really complain about.The movie mixes English with Afrikaans, about 50/50 each or a stronger lenience towards English.It didn't blow me away in the same way 'TSOTSI (2005)' did when it came out but considering that that is one of my favorite movies it would be surprising if it did, still more than well worth a watch though.
This film was such a disappointment. It sensationalizes crime, celebrates materialism, denigrates Black Africans in general, debases Black women in particular, and glorifies Whites in the same subliminal ways that are so prevalent in Hollywood. As "entertainment" it merely serves to perpetuate all that is bad about South Africa today. I am totally bewildered by those who claim it is better than Tsotsie. No, it is a cheap, trashy, commercial, gangster movie with no morally redeeming value at all. That said, the acting was good, as were some of the technical aspects of the very violent scenes. But the violence was way too gratuitous, as was the excessive footage of half-naked Black women hanging out in the Nigerian drug dealers' den. Sadly, the fact that so many young South Africans seem drawn to the film says more about the present state of social and political consciousness of young South Africans than about the quality of the film.
I saw this film previewed on CNN and went to see it at the Zurich Film Festival with some American friends of mine. Being South African one could see that this film was simply a labour of love for the beloved country. Ralph Ziman, the self effacing director was on hand to talk about the film after the movie and I asked him how he got all the original footage of the Mandela inauguration etc, which he has cleverly weaved into the movie. His answer was amazing: He shot it himself over the years, which means that Ralph has single handedly created parts of a record of SA history no one else has. At the end of the day the film is broad enough and topical enough to override Tsotsi on many levels, dealing with the integral white black relationship in South Africa (the main black criminal building hijacker in the movie has an affair with a well to do white Jewish girl from the burbs) and how these parts of society interrelate. Last but not least, as it is not stuck in the modality of "Tsotsi only" it manages to look refreshingly at a broad swathe of the themes and reality affecting SA society today. Though Ralph denies it :) (correct me if I am wrong Ralph) Tsotsi has inevitably influenced the making of Jerusalema but on many levels is radically different. In a sense I missed the whimsical sadness of Tsotsi and Jerusalema pans through the skyline and scenes of our Johannesburg far too fast to really do it justice. More of that please. However, its a fast moving film that was enjoyed not just by me but by some Americans I dragged along to it. They really liked it proving that it scope and graphic talks to a worldwide audience. Bravo Ralph. Your country has cause to be very proud of you. You are a true son of South Africa.
If this movie were shot in America, I'd give it a 7/10 because too many things are simply formulaic and not done very well. The main guy turns to the criminal life a little too easily. What happens to sidekicks #1 and #2 could come from a McBain (Simpsons) movie. The woman's explanation for why her brother is there is embarrassingly simple - wouldn't it have been better for the brother to say, "hey, this sh*t is real" to convey the same idiot attraction? Most importantly, where did the lead's main criminal idea come from? I believe something like that really happened, but there's so little hint of it earlier in the movie that it's just confusing when it happens. How could anyone come up with such a complex scheme that relies on the actions and inactions of various government agencies simply by reading very general self-help books? I'll have it both ways - I did like this movie. The points above are nits, some bigger than others. I love the depiction of Johannesberg as this crime-ridden, divided city, like "the Wire" squared. I'll stick with the 7/10, though that's unfair given IMDb's general grade inflation.