Skoonheid

Last night we watched the movie called ‘Skoonheid’. It is the first South African film that professes to deal with homosexual issues. This film was also the first South African film ever to win a Cannes Award. So with much anticipation we sat down to watch Skoonheid. …………..

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I bought this movie brand new. Not at Cash Crusaders like I buy so many movies. I payed close to R200 at Look and Listen for this movie. Yes I completely regret it. It was an hour and a half of my life that I will never get back again. You expect to see a movie about a forbidden love that cannot be and that ends with duty and lots of tears.

Deon Lotz

Well the main character, Francois van Heerden (Played by Deon Lotz) is a typical Afrikaner male with two daughters a wife and his own wood business. What you find out about him is that he also goes to meetings. At these meetings, butch manly Afrikaner boerre men get together and drink beer. They say that at these meetings they don’t allow ‘moffies’ or ‘colourds’, oh and then they have sex with each other. But that I can still understand. I have so often heard of straight men that has gay sex from time to time, yet they are apparently not gay.

Francois then starts to get obsessed about a boy. Christian (played by Charlie Keegan) is a law student and the child of Francois’s oldest friend. But Christian lives in Cape Town and Francois in JHB. So Francois goes on a “business” trip to Cape Town. He of course lies to his wife without feeling ashamed because she herself is cheating on him, and he knows this.

Charlie Keegan

In Cape Town he makes sure that he gets invited to his friends house so that he may see Christian. And so Francois starts to stalk Christian. But one night Francois goes to the Bronx Bar (which used to be a gay club in town, sadly it closed down) where he gets trashed. He then phones Christian to come and help him to get to his hotel room. At the Hotel room Francois ends up raping Christian, rather violently actually.

The movie ends not to long after that when Francois is sitting alone in the Spur and orders a Coke and a Burger. For about 5 minutes they show how he stares at a gay couple sitting in the Spur and then the movie ends. 

Okay I have to admit that reading it here now it seems like a rather good movie. But it really wasn’t, not at all!!.

Oliver Hermanus

The dialog is just about non existent and not very deep. The acting, even though good is just somehow ……….. not good enough. The creator, Oliver Hermanus, clearly was also a big fan of Brokeback Mountain as this film also has these long pauses on just stuff that doesn’t really have anything to do with the movie, like landcapes. The problem with this is that it worked in Brokeback Mountain. But now it’s been done and you just look like you are trying to re-create a brilliant story of Love. But if you are looking for Love in this film then you have the wrong film. This film is about oppression and forcing others to like you. It’s about obsession and lust wrapped with guilt. Not even in his marriage is there an ounce of Love.

My fear about this movie is that it is not going to paint a positive image for the gay community. I can just see a kerk tannie go “See, I told you! They are all a bunch of perverts and rapists”, and according to the imagery that this movie creates, she will be 100% correct. But don’t take my word for it, rent it and watch it for yourself. Maybe I just don’t have the mental capacity to get it. Maybe I was expecting too much, to see a story of two men, who due to circumstances, cannot Love each other.  But maybe that is just because I am a hopeless romantic!