Kwazulu-Natal Film Commission, Sleeves Up Media, and the Ergo Company present Andile Gumbi (Menzi), Bahle Mashinini (Siegabonga), Nokuththula Mazibuko (Gogo), Nomlanga Shabana (Nobuhle Mthembu), Cinematography, Lance Gewer; Written and Directed by Sibusiso Khuzwayo; Executive Producer, James Barth; Producers, Cati Weinek, Dumi Cumbi, Sibsiso Khuzwayo. © 2019
In 2008, Stephen Daldry directed The Reader. A beautiful movie about a 15 years old boy Michael (David Kross), falling in love with a thirty-something woman. As their age differences could prove, there wasn’t much the relationship could offer besides him reading aloud The Reader to Hanna (Kate Winslet). In return gets laid. Michael is hurt when he comes home one day, and Hanna has packed and left the apartment. By the age of twenty-four and in Law School, Michael finds Hanna in the court of law in Germany, accused of Nazi crimes. The Reader is a beautiful drama with many confrontations for two hours four minutes—a full-blown movie, with controversies and stories in depth.
The Letter Reader is not to the standard of The Reader. The Letter Reader falls flat on its face. In literary terms, I can put this South African production in the same class as GNC Scandal. A nothingness! I have reviewed and analyzed some of South Africa’s best, but boy, I tell you, The Letter Reader is a sleeper. Better yet, a slumber. But better yet, I can’t hold them to the standard of an entire movie. It’s a writer’s best shot at an MFA dissertation or Cannes Film Festival, for Short Film Category. Oh yes, The Letter Reader has a 75% chance of winning a notation.
The Letter Reader is a short film about a kid, Siya Bonga (Bahle Mashinibuko), brought by his fighting parents, and about to divorce, to KwaZulu-Natal. They are from Johannesburg. He is going to stay with his grandmother for a while until they solved their marital differences. Siya’s grandmother has a store where the community buys groceries and also receives their correspondences. One of those off-the-road stores where every neighbor gets their groceries and other needs. I ran such a store before, by the roadside in Nimba County, a country road to the President’s hometown. And late one night, President Doe of Liberia was my one-time midnight customer. Being able to read and the only person in the community who reads, Siya soon becomes the KwaZulu-Natal community letter reader.
At the beginning of the short film, we see Menzi (Andile Gumbi) saying goodbye to his wife Nobuhle (Nomolanga Shabane) as he leaves for the city of gold (Johannesburg). The parting isn’t romantic. Nobuhle stands there expecting a hug and all, but neither came. After a while, he has been gone when Siya arrives in the KwaZulu-Natal village and becomes the village letter reader. Nobuhle walks into the store, and Siya’s grandmother asks young Siya to read her letter. When Nobuhle holds the letter upside down, Siya notices she couldn’t read. He instead misinterprets the wordings of the letter to the best of her happiness. The little guy, Siya, with his big bulging eyes, sets Nobuhle down and reads to her the letter.
He reads her letter, according to what she may like to hear: “Hello Nobuhle, my love, I trust you are well. The candle is about to burn out…so I will be brief. I traveled safely on my journey to the city of gold, and life around here is just fine. I trust you are doing well. I miss you very much, my love. During the night and day, I’m always thinking about you. I’ll be back home soon. Menzi.” Siya sees the glow of love and hope in Nobuhle’s eyes after reading her the fake letter.
The actual letter Menzi sent his wife reads: “Hello Noubuhle, I trust you are well. The candle is about to burn out. With that said, I’ll be brief. I traveled safely on my journey to the city of gold. Life is just fine. You will agree with me that our marriage has long died. Maybe it wasn’t even alive. I have started a new life and home here in the city of gold. Due to that, I release you to start a new life without me. I apologize if this letter is received in the wrong light. I wish you a prosperous life. It is, I, Menzi.” Such a correspondence would have shattered and ruined Nobuhle’s hope in the marriage. But Siya’s ploy to lure the older woman for his own selfish gain saves her day.
Like all short films, they are always loaded with facts and essentials, which reviewers can use in a thirty or so munites length of narratives. The Letter Reader is divided into three acts structure: The departure of Menzi to the city of gold and the arrival of Siya from the city of gold to KwaZulu-Natal, as the first act; Siya’s meeting and reading Nobuhle’s letter from her husband as the second structure. The last is the morning of Siya’s departure from KwaZulu-Natal to the city of gold. He brings one of his fake letters to Nobuhle’s hut; not knowing, Nobuhle’s husband lost his job in the city of gold and has come back home overnight to his wife. Nobuhle couldn’t let him into her hut, and Siya retreats from the scene.
This short film’s setting can be appreciated because short films are mostly experimental and austere in production economies. In this film, the characters aren’t many; they could be put to about four in all. We consider the film’s central location: a desolate, barren, not so friendly, and baldy and hilly, atmospheric condition. The scenery is an unusual setting, not entirely warm. It goes to tell viewers or analyzers that the characters you’ll be coming across aren’t best situated, and the environment doesn’t say so much.
The community believes and rejoices in Siya’s readings of their letters: When he reads the old man’s letter from his granddaughter, he comments, “It’s really my granddaughter.” And reads a stern-looking woman’s letter, seemingly from her husband, “I miss your body close to me, keeping me warm throughout the night.” The last letter he composes to Nobuhle from Menzi reads: “Hello my love. My beautiful wife. I really miss you …and I love you. I miss your body close to me, bringing me closer and keeping me warm through the night. I will come back home very soon. I love you very much. My love, Menzi.”
We again look at the character of Siya. We imagine him educated in light of this production. A church-going Christian kid, probably a Baptist, I don’t know why I claim him to be Baptist, but he looks so to me. In return, the community believes in his readings. He uses that to scorn, makes fun of their plights (stern-faced woman who misses her husband), and romantically tries to lure the older Nobuhle. The writer, in a sense, puts education over illiteracy.
This story could have been meaningful and exciting had it let its characters entirely, dramatically mature. The Producer or Writer puts the players on board, and the talents start to find their levels, then the story ends. No dialogue, no narration. The little guy with the bulging eyeballs and menacing smiles could have gone a long way. The character of a wife’s ignorant, innocent smile but steadfast love of a dishonest husband in the city of gold would be fully exploited. We should have witnessed the husband’s life in the city of gold with his new family, like in Vaya.
The film’s conclusion would not be easy-peasy. I would, however, try to put it in the last scene, and in the acting of the characters: Siya, on his way back to the city of gold, stops by Nobuhle’s hut door this early morning, hopeful he will have to see her the last time. He brings her a letter seemingly from Menzi, but Menzi is already back home and in bed. We see Nobuhle’s face, not determining if it is love for the boy, or disappointment in him, as she says, “Goodbye.”
Note: We at Africanmoviestar.com regret the death of Andile Gumbi, who died in October 2019, shortly after this production wrapped. May his soul rest blessed in perpetual peace. What a character in film entertainment you were meant to be, but with less time to prove your worth? All the same, we love you till we meet again, in the theater of the cosmic arena.