Flatland (2019 film)

Flatland is a 2019 South African drama film directed by Jenna Bass.[1] It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.[2] Examining race, gender and class in contemporary South Africa, it is part road movie, part Western and, within its noir sensibility, speaks with intelligence and kindness of its three central women characters.[3]

Flatland
Film poster
Directed byJenna Bass
Written byJenna Bass
StarringFaith Baloyi
CinematographySarah Cunningham
Edited byJacques de Villiers
Music byBao-Tran Tran
Production
company
The Match Factory
Distributed byThe Match Factory
Release date
  • 7 February 2019 (2019-02-07) (Berlin)
Running time
117 minutes
CountrySouth Africa
LanguagesAfrikaans
English

Plot

In the arid Karoo, the shy and innocent Natalie marries the young policeman Bakkies, equally inexperienced and uncertain. His maladroit effort at consummation leads her to grab his revolver and flee to her beloved horse, that is stabled beside the pastor's house. When the pastor ferociously orders her to return to her husband, she shoots him dead and rides off into the desert. Calling on her heavily pregnant friend Poppie, she takes her off on a quest to find Branco, a trucker who is the father of the imminent child.

Meanwhile, the police officer Beauty drives up from Cape Town into the desert to see her husband Billy, who is serving 15 years for murdering his brother and is suspected of breaking out to kill the pastor. Beauty quickly ascertains that the suspicion is false, but Billy seems to want another sentence.

After Natalie and Poppy find Branco at a roadside bar run by Theunis, the four agree to head for Johannesburg. When the road is blocked by snow, Branco seduces Natalie, who responds to his practiced approach, while Theunis tries to rape Poppie. He is stopped at gunpoint by Beauty, who has been trailing the two girls and takes the pair back in handcuffs. She does a deal with the local police: she will give them Natalie, who in panic killed the pastor, and they will hand Billy into her custody.

Natalie is restored to her ungrateful husband, Poppie's labour pains start, while Billy eventually agrees to escape across the frontier and start a new life with Beauty.

Cast
  • Faith Baloyi as Captain Beauty Cuba
  • Nicole Fortuin as Natalie
  • Izel Bezuidenhout as Poppie
  • De Klerk Oelofse as Sergeant Bakkies Bezuidenhout
  • Albert Pretorious as Theunis
  • Clayton Evertson as Branko
  • Brendon Daniels as Billy
  • Eric Nobbs as Jaap Bezuidenhout, father of Bakkies
  • Maurice Carpede as Reverend Salmon

Reception

On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, Flatland has a 91% approval rating based on 11 reviews.[4]

References
  1. "Berlinale first look: Flatland is an intriguingly kitsch South African western". BFI. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  2. "Toronto Adds The Aeronauts, Mosul, Seberg, & More To Festival Slate". Deadline. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  3. Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (24 September 2019). "Wild Women and the Great Karoo". Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  4. "Flatland". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
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