DVD | Yesterday

Rating: PG - Contains Adult Themes.
Duration: 96 mins.
Genre : Festival & Foreign.
Actors: Kenneth Khambula, Leleti Khumalo, Harriet Lenabe, Lihle Mvelase, Camilla Walker.
Release Date: Available now.

Yesterday is a moving story set against the harsh landscape of rural South Africa. You can almost feel the sense of hopelessness during the movies agonisingly slow intro, and you start to wonder what kind of a movie you’ve just sat down to watch.

But once Yesterday unveils it’s secret you’ve come to love the lead character, a fiercely independent and proud mother by the name of Yesterday, and the discovery comes as a savage body blow.

Yesterday is sick – she’s been walking the two-hour plus journey to the clinic every two weeks in an effort to see the doctor, but she’s always too late and the queue is too long. When a friend steps into to help and pays for a taxi ride, Yesterday gets the news that she has contracted AIDS from her husband, who works in Johannesburg, and is rarely home.

It’s here where the movie really kicks in. We get to see the human face of AIDS. The violent denial of her husband, the forgiveness and acceptance of Yesterday, and the ignorance and fear of the other villagers.

To say that Yesterday is a powerful and moving story would be a gross understatement. To claim that it offers hope and understanding would be a lie. What it does do is force you to confront some of the issues facing the uneducated people of the developing world, and makes you look at your own life, taunting you to complain about the traffic, or the price of petrol, and mocking you for doing so.

Food for thought
Ignorance strips away dignity and denies love its opportunity to shine.

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