Jay said that everyone involved in the production believed in the importance of the story. The fact that the film’s director John Trengrove is white opened another line of criticism in a country still wracked by racial tensions 23 years after the end of apartheid. “They say we are being homophobic but it’s a lie, they just want to make money by exploiting our culture.” “Even if we’re poor, or black people, or we’re living in the rural areas, we need to be respected. “They kill our culture, the legacy that we have,” said Spelman, 21. It must been banned totally, they don’t understand the importance of the ritual.”īam added that she had been contacted by many Xhosa people angry after seeing the trailer.Īmong them was Kamvalethu Spelman, a student at Johannesburg’s Wits University, who organised “The Wound must fall” movement against the film. “It must stop and it must not be screened in South Africa. “Women, who raise boys by themselves, they could get scared to send them. If our kids see this they won’t want to go to the mountains, but it’s our traditions,” said Nkosazana Bam, a member of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa. “The ritual should not be on screen, it’s a secret. Rather, they are incensed that details of the Ulwaluko are revealed, as only initiates are entitled to know them. Leading figures in the Xhosa community are careful not to criticise the gay storyline. It’s an environment where you learn your place among men and within your culture,” said Jay, who is himself Xhosa - like Nelson Mandela. “The Ulwaluko is a very sacred and very important ritual for Xhosa people, my people.
The film also depicts the circumcision process and the often basic after-care given to initiates.
“It’s an exploration of way more than just the ritual - or gayness - it’s an exploration of respectability politics, seniority, manhood, masculinity.” “It’s not simply this gay love story set in the mountain,” Jay told AFP in a Johannesburg cafe, wearing hair extensions and high-heels. The plot twists when Kwanda discovers not just Xolani’s orientation but that he has a secret sexual relationship with a senior initiation leader who is a violent alcoholic - and a married father.
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