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Wound (The)

Country: South Africa | Germany | Netherlands | France, Language: Xhosa | Afrikaans | English, 88 mins

  • Director: John Trengove
  • Writer: John Trengove; Malusi Bengu; Thando Mgqolozana
  • Producer: Cait Pansegrouw; Elias Ribeiro

CGiii Comment

Here's a film that's ruffling quite a few traditional feathers! In essence, banned [temporarily] in its native South Africa, The Wound explores an arena that no other film has explored before...Xhosa initiation rites...with a bit of same-sex desire thrown in...to assure the controversy [and fury] continues for years to come! It is a truly unique and well-crafted film.

Let's get one thing off of our chests: Non-consensual circumcision [aka, genital mutilation], enforced circumcision...is, in the 21st century, barbaric...especially when it's done by non-medically trained foreskin hackers! The statistics for death and deformity after circumcision [without anaesthetic] are jaw-dropping. Patriarchal pressure [and peer pressure] ensure/assure/insure that boys can only become men after they get their foreskins [non-surgically] lopped off. Tell it how it is...and, it tends to sound as ridiculous as it actually is! In today's world...this needs to be addressed.

John Trengrove's film does just that...rather than laying down a judgment, he simply shows. It's brief and it's brutal. It's all about conformity and the things people will do to be seen as conformists!!! The Wound will shock. No doubt about that!

The Rainbow Nation's divisions are as vast as its size...post-Apartheid heralded a unification between the disparate...but, the division between the urban and the rural are as deep as ever. To be gay in a city is so much easier than to be gay in the middle of a traditional nowhere. This socio-economic wound is far more difficult to treat...every government, world-wide, has failed in the past, failing today and will fail in the future. Conformity is [r]evolution's greatest enemy. Education is [r]evolution's greatest asset. Wow! This film certainly hits on some massive, major issues!

Modernity's galloping horse waits for no man, neither religion, nor tradition...archaic institutions and practices are [stubbornly, erroneously and tenaciously] clinging on...but, in time, their grip will loosen. Globalisation, the internet, education and mass migration...and, film...are all playing their role in the game for change. 30 years ago, the world was a very different place...30 years from now the world will be a very different place! But...we're here in the now...and our 'now' is shrouded in a suffocating blanket of political correctness...you can't say this, you can't say that! Well, John Trengrove's film dared to say what it wanted to say.

Who said film was not powerful!?!


Trailer...

The(ir) Blurb...

Kwanda, a gay South African teen, travels from the city to the rural village his family comes from to undergo ritual circumcision. Recovering from the painful rite of passage he forms a strong bond with his caregiver, Xolani.

Soon, Kwanda begins to suspect Xolani might be having a secret gay relationship with another villager. When the truth is uncovered, Xolani’s future—and Kwanda’s very life—are put in jeopardy.

Cast & Characters

Nakhane Touré as Xolani;
Bongile Mantsai as Vija;
Niza Jay as Kwanda;
Thobani Mseleni as Babalo;
Gamelihle Bovana as Initiate;
Halalisani Bradley Cebekhulu as Initiate;
Inga Qwede as Initiate;
Sibabalwe Ngqayana as Initiate;
Siphosethu Ngcetane as Initiate