How much are we who we were
and how much are we who we’ve become? That’s the question that “State of Violence,” the latest film from director Khalo Matabane (Conversations on a
Sunday Afternoon), addresses.
Bobedi (Hotel Rwanda’s Fana Mokoena) is a high-flying
businessman, at the top of the new South Africa. He and his wife, Joy (Lindi
Matshikiza), are living the good life. It’s a world totally removed from the
violent apartheid-era township in which Bobedi was raised. The crimes he
witnessed and the crimes he committed are old memories, decades in the past.
When Bobedi and Joy are attacked by an intruder in their home, one who hints at
knowing Bobedi’s past, it becomes clear that what’s done is rarely fully done.
Joy is murdered by the masked-gunman, leading Bobedi to commence a search for
the killer. His literal search for the killer runs parallel to his figurative
search for himself.
Unfortunately, “State of Violence” doesn’t deliver on the
promise of its premise. If ever there was a country where questions of past
actions and present identity resonate, it must surely be South Africa. The
transformation of Nelson Mandela from terrorist to respected statesman shows
that simple answers don’t exist but that there is some way forward. The film
does not delve into these questions with the depth or skill required to make
the picture a meaningful commentary. We must content ourselves with one man’s
story of revenge, but there, again, the picture fails. As a detective film or
thriller, the plot is too pedestrian and straight-forward to give much
satisfaction. It’s too broad to be a satisfying as a mystery and too shallow to
be a satisfying social examination.
To be fair to Matabane, his star may have let him down as
well. Mokoena’s face rarely gives much insight into what is supposed to be
happening in Bobedi’s head. While Bobedi does undergo a journey, we only see it
happening in the character’s actions, we don’t see it happening on his face or
in his mind, so it is not convincing. Presley Cheweneyagae (star of 2005’s Best
Foreign Language Oscar winner Tsotsi), as Bobendi’s brother, Boy-Boy, delivers
more emotion, breathing some life into his flatly-drawn character.
The film is competently shot, though Matabane’s shaky
camera-work leads more to distraction than a sense of urgency. One great chase
scene, where such shooting would have really stood out, instead gets lost
because of all the jitter in the scenes that could have been more stably shot.
The director uses the township where Bobedi grew up, as a character in the film
and does it well. What could have been voyeuristic comes across as real and not
exploitative.
The film might have benefited from an extra twenty minutes
to develop either theme in greater depth. Whether it is as social commentary or
a mystery thriller doesn’t matter. Either would have been a better choice than
this hybrid that delivers as neither. Much like its protagonist, “State of Violence”
starts down an interesting path, but gets lost when it comes to a fork in the
road.
Rating: 2/5
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