21 Up South Africa: Mandela's Children < PopMatters
About|Submissions|Advertising|Staff||||
Features Home
Special Sections
Music
Film
Television
DVDs
Books
Comics
Multimedia
Events
Culture
Columns Home
Music
Film
Television
DVDs
Books
Comics
Multimedia
Events
Culture
Blogs Home
Mixed Media
Moving Pixels
Sound Affects
Short Ends and Leader
Notes from the Road
Channel Surfing
Graphic Novelties
Marginal Utility
Re:Print
Announcements
News Home
Music
Film
Television
DVDs
Books
Comics
Multimedia
Events
Culture
Music Home
Features
Columns
Reviews
Capsule Reviews
Blogs
News
Film Home
Features
Columns
Reviews
Blogs
News
Television Home
Features
Columns
Reviews
Blogs
News
DVDs Home
Features
Columns
Reviews
Blogs
News
Books Home
Features
Columns
Reviews
Blogs
News
Comics Home
Features
Columns
Reviews
Blogs
News
Multimedia Home
Features
Columns
Reviews
Blogs
News
Events Home
Features
Columns
Reviews
Blogs
News
Moving Citations
DVDs
Home>DVDs>Reviews>Angus Gibson>21 Up South Africa: Mandela's Children
21 Up South Africa: Mandela's Children
Director: Angus Gibson
(US DVD: 22 Jul 2008)
Amazon
Tweet
Print
Email
Discuss
Share
Text:AAA
21 Up South Africa: Mandela's Children
By Carolyn W. Fanelli 29 September 2008
At the tender age of seven, Frans already knew who he was and who he wanted to be: I am poor. I want to be rich. When you are poor, you struggle. Would his lot in life improve? Now 21, Frans is proud that his home in a Johannesburg, South Africa, township has acquired an inside toilet, a fridge and a TV. Yet, gesturing towards the wealthy neighborhood in the distance, he proclaims, These people live a life of luxury. And thats what you want. Thats what I am dying for. I am striving for it. What will Frans sayand on which side of the divide will he liveseven years later when he turns 28?
The ability to watch peoples personalities develop as they grow up; to ponder how their education, family, friends, culture and community will influence them; to guess correctly and to be completely surprisedso sums up the addictive appeal of Michael Apteds Up Series and its spin-offs, including this DVD, 21 Up South Africa: Mandelas Children.
Apted has captured the lives of 14 Brits since 1964, when at first they were seven-years-old. His original film was called 7 Up; 14 Up followed seven years later. The latest installment, 49 Up, came out in 2005. Director Angus Gibson brought the Up series premise to South Africa in 1992, with 7 Up in South Africa.
The country was in the midst of a profound transitionit was two years after Nelson Mandela had been released from prison and two years before he would become the countrys first black president. The 14 young people Gibson selected for his film were destined to grow up in a South Africa that was shedding its apartheid history and forging a multi-racial future, while also dealing with the inter-related crisis of crime, poverty, and the HIV pandemic. The group includes blacks, whites, Indians and people of mixed race, all from very different backgrounds.
How, at age 21, will they have coped with lifes challenges? Watching 21 Up South Africa, you feel part voyeur, part social anthropologist.
By 2006, three of the 14 have died of AIDS-related illnesses. The others are carving out their adult identitiesgoing to college, looking for jobs, getting married, having children. Only two seem truly self-assured: Willem aspires to become a player for the Springboks (South Africas beloved national rugby team) and is pursuing a degree in sports management; Claudia is studying science with the hope of transferring to med school.
Amongst the remaining cohort is Lizette, a pregnant housewife who says she has a perfect life, but is so bored that shes learned to like reading because it makes her days pass more quickly. Katlego, a well-heeled young black man, is overwhelmed by the position of power he finds himself in as a result of the governments black economic empowerment policies. And Thembisile is unemployed, an all-to-common predicament in a country where only one in three women have jobs. I would take any job, she says, I dont care. I would do anything.
The film flashes back to interviews of the young people at ages seven and 14. It strikes you how much seven-year-old children take in from their surroundings, as when a small Willem discusses his feelings about the upcoming racial integration of his school. There will be blacks there until the first break. After break therell be none, he says. Why? asks the interviewer. Because well beat them up.
At 14 he admits that his earlier comments were stupid. A seven-year-old Thembisile says she wants to be a police officer when she grows up because then I can shoot you. It is clear she knows who is behind the some of the killings in her poor black township.
A motherly-sounding narrator ties the vignettes together, and she often stresses that these are children that have grown up with more opportunities than their parents. They are Mandelas children, after all. Nevertheless, you come away from the film with a real sense of how difficult it is to suddenly give everyone equal opportunitythe playing field is remarkably resistant to leveling, even when the political will is there. South Africa may be the continents largest economy, but most of these young people, like Frans, remain at its fringes.
The highlight of the DVDs skimpy bonus features is an intriguing four-minute excerpt of a Roger Ebert interview with Michael Apted, in which both men talk about the strange experience of growing old with the people in the Up films. Gibsons work is a worthy and compelling complement to Apteds groundbreaking series. He is an accomplished filmmaker known for tackling meaty topics, having been nominated for a Best Documentary Oscar in 1996 for Mandela. And what could be meatier than the future of a country and its children? For real reality, turn off Big Brother Africa, and turn on 21 Up.
Rating:
Tweet
Tagged as: 21 up south africa: mandelas children | angus gibson
Comments
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
Now on PopMatters
Today ? Recent ? Popular ? Discussed
Features
The Deliberate Method of Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud in 'A Dangerous Method'
The Crows Come Home to Roost: The Death of Lisa Kimmel Fisher
Darkly Drawn: The PopMatters Exclusive with "I, Vampire's" Josh Fialkov
Columns
Interstitial Overdrive: Truth is Fiction: The Work of Haskell Wexler, Part 1
Blogs
Moving Pixels: Cloud Strife: A Profile of the Greatest Protagonist in Video Games
Notes from the Road: Olivia Wilde unveiling Swarovski Star in Rockefeller Center
Mixed Media: Lovedrug - "Pink Champagne" Video (PopMatters Premiere)
Sound Affects: Black Magic: 15 Essential Original Lineup Black Sabbath Songs
More
Music
The Decemberists: Long Live the King
Luke Haines: Nine and a Half Psychedelic Meditations on British Wrestling of the 1970s ...
The Dave Brubeck Quartet: Their Last Time Out
The Rifles: Freedom Run
Natacha Atlas: Mounqaliba - Rising: The Remixes
Fionn Regan: 100 Acres of Sycamore
Events
The Airborne Toxic Event: 23 October 2011 - Los Angeles
Zigaboo Modeliste: 22 October 2011 - Los Angeles
Mayday Parade: 21 October 2011 - Indianapolis, IN
Film
What Does It Matter if You're a Girl or a Boy? 'Tomboy'
DVDs
The Trip is a Desperation Odyssey
Women on the Margins: Cinema of Jean-Claude Brisseau
The Seductive Jean-Paul Belmondo Gives Life to 'Len Morin, Priest'
Books
Banana Yoshimoto's 'The Lake' Is Not Deep Enough for Treading Water
'Nightwoods': A Vivid Place of Bent Trees, Black Lakes and Resigned Mountains
Comics
Cleopatra in the Carpet, and Catwoman
Fewer
Cloud Strife: A Profile of the Greatest Protagonist in Video Games (Moving Pixels) [Thu, 1:50 pm]
Olivia Wilde unveiling Swarovski Star in Rockefeller Center (Notes from the Road) [Thu, 11:00 am]
Lovedrug - "Pink Champagne" Video (PopMatters Premiere) (Mixed Media) [Thu, 9:05 am]
Black Magic: 15 Essential Original Lineup Black Sabbath Songs (Sound Affects) [Thu, 9:00 am]
Truth is Fiction: The Work of Haskell Wexler, Part 1 (Columns) [Thu, 8:55 am]
What Does It Matter if You're a Girl or a Boy? 'Tomboy' (Reviews) [Thu, 8:04 am]
We Still Live Here Premieres on Independent Lens 17 November (Mixed Media) [Thu, 8:00 am]
Darkly Drawn: The PopMatters Exclusive with "I, Vampire's" Josh Fialkov (Features) [Thu, 7:00 am]
Overstaying Its Welcome: The Place of 'Uncharted 3' in the Medium (Moving Pixels) [Thu, 7:00 am]
The Airborne Toxic Event: 23 October 2011 - Los Angeles (Reviews) [Thu, 6:40 am]
Zigaboo Modeliste: 22 October 2011 - Los Angeles (Reviews) [Thu, 6:35 am]
Mayday Parade: 21 October 2011 - Indianapolis, IN (Reviews) [Thu, 6:30 am]
Cleopatra in the Carpet, and Catwoman (Reviews) [Thu, 6:25 am]
The Seductive Jean-Paul Belmondo Gives Life to 'Len Morin, Priest' (Reviews) [Thu, 1:03 am]
Women on the Margins: Cinema of Jean-Claude Brisseau (Reviews) [Thu, 1:02 am]
The Deliberate Method of Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud in 'A Dangerous Method' (Features) [Thu, 1:01 am]
The Crows Come Home to Roost: The Death of Lisa Kimmel Fisher (Features) [Thu, 1:00 am]
The Decemberists: Long Live the King (Reviews) [Thu, 1:00 am]
Luke Haines: Nine and a Half Psychedelic Meditations on British Wrestling of the 1970s ... (Reviews) [Thu, 1:00 am]
The Dave Brubeck Quartet: Their Last Time Out (Reviews) [Thu, 1:00 am]
Humor vs. Religion: An Unholy War. Part Two: Dispatches from the Front Lines (Columns)
PopMatters Music for the Gifted (or, December 2011 Presents) (Features)
Why Not Pink Floyd? (Features)
Drake: Take Care (Reviews)
'A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas' Sticks with the Fraternity Humor (Reviews)
Up, Down, Turn Around: The 15 Best New Order Songs of All Time (Sound Affects)
Wale: Ambition (Reviews)
The Battle to Stay Relevant (Columns)
There Is No "World Music": A Conversation with the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart (Features)
Funeral Songs: The Music of 'Six Feet Under' (Features)
The 10 Best Behind the Scenes Film Books of All Time (Short Ends and Leader)
U2: Achtung Baby (20th Anniversary Edition) (Reviews)
Batman and Bitches (Moving Pixels)
The 10 Reasons Why 'Blue Velvet' Is a David Lynch Masterpiece (Short Ends and Leader)
Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds: Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds (Reviews)
The R&B Renaissance (Features)
Duran Duran Releases New Video for "Girl Panic!" (Mixed Media)
Does Angelina Jolie Owe Bosnia More Than Blood and Honey? (Columns)
Black Magic: 15 Essential Original Lineup Black Sabbath Songs (Sound Affects)
Atlas Sound: Parallax (Reviews)
The Great Book of John - "Simple Things" (video) (PopMatters Premiere) (Mixed Media)
Mike Patton: The Solitude of Prime Numbers (Original Soundtrack) (Reviews)
Counterbalance No. 58: Fleetwood Macs 'Rumours' (Sound Affects)
Demon Knights, Whiskey in a Jar and the Edge of Woody Allen (Graphic Novelties)
Unwanted Empathy in Rage (Moving Pixels)
Better Living Through Therapy: Six Feet Under's The Plan (Features)
Sigur Rs: Inni (Reviews)
Counterbalance No. 57: Becks 'Odelay' (Sound Affects)
The 'Down-Low' Is Still Kept Down and Low in Black Communities (Columns)
Violence Without Meaning in Games (Moving Pixels)
Art Endures, Capitalism Degenerates: The Evolving Career of Amanda Palmer
The 10 Most Shocking/Controversial Movies of All Time
Los Campesinos!: Hello Sadness
The Battle to Stay Relevant
Up, Down, Turn Around: The 15 Best New Order Songs of All Time
Immigrant Nations by Paul Scheffer
All That We Learned About Livin: John Mellencamps Legacy
Drake: Take Care
The 10 Best Behind the Scenes Film Books of All Time
Why Not Pink Floyd?
The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow: Is Alas, More Like The Great Big Beautiful Nothing
Making Pop Music as Literary As Possible: An Interview with John Wesley Harding
Mike Patton: The Solitude of Prime Numbers (Original Soundtrack)
Electric Six: Heartbeats and Brainwaves
Jonathan Coulton: Artificial Heart
Defying Convention: Six Feet Under and the Unreliable Narrator
Thomas Dolby: A Map of the Floating City
The Olivia Tremor Control Reissues Dusk at Cubist Castle and Black Foliage
Acoustic Alchemy: Roseland
Psychic Babble: My Brothers Ears / My Sisters Eyes
The Ecstasy of Influence: Lethem and his WordHoard
Warren Haynes: 17 October 2011 - Chicago, IL
Is Chillwave Necessary? An Interview with Paul Duncan of Warm Ghost
CONTEST: Win Pink Floyds Wish You Were Here
Cleopatra in the Carpet, and Catwoman
PM Picks
Film Archive
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0
Announcements
Call for Feature Essays About Any Aspect of Popular Culture, Present or Past
Call for Blah, Blah Bloggers
More
Call for Music Critics and Music Bloggers
Call for Book Reviewers and Bloggers
Call for Columnists: Brainy, Artful Generalists, Rejoice!
Call for DVD Critics and TV Bloggers
Pop Past C It's 'Past', But It's Never 'Over'
Fewer
Ratings
10 - The Best of the Best
9 - Very Nearly Perfect
8 - Excellent
7 - Damn Good
6 - Good
5 - Average
4 - Unexceptional
3 - Weak
2 - Seriously Flawed
1 - Terrible
? 1999-2011 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters.com? and PopMatters? are trademarks
of PopMatters Media, Inc. and PopMatters Magazine.
PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated.
About|Submissions|Advertising|Staff|Book Series|Privacy Policy
DVDs
21 Up South Africa: Mandela's Children
(US DVD: 22 Jul 2008)
21 Up South Africa: Mandela's Children
At the tender age of seven, Frans already knew who he was and who he wanted to be: I am poor. I want to be rich. When you are poor, you struggle. Would his lot in life improve? Now 21, Frans is proud that his home in a Johannesburg, South Africa, township has acquired an inside toilet, a fridge and a TV. Yet, gesturing towards the wealthy neighborhood in the distance, he proclaims, These people live a life of luxury. And thats what you want. Thats what I am dying for. I am striving for it. What will Frans sayand on which side of the divide will he liveseven years later when he turns 28?
The ability to watch peoples personalities develop as they grow up; to ponder how their education, family, friends, culture and community will influence them; to guess correctly and to be completely surprisedso sums up the addictive appeal of Michael Apteds Up Series and its spin-offs, including this DVD, 21 Up South Africa: Mandelas Children.
Apted has captured the lives of 14 Brits since 1964, when at first they were seven-years-old. His original film was called 7 Up; 14 Up followed seven years later. The latest installment, 49 Up, came out in 2005. Director Angus Gibson brought the Up series premise to South Africa in 1992, with 7 Up in South Africa.
The country was in the midst of a profound transitionit was two years after Nelson Mandela had been released from prison and two years before he would become the countrys first black president. The 14 young people Gibson selected for his film were destined to grow up in a South Africa that was shedding its apartheid history and forging a multi-racial future, while also dealing with the inter-related crisis of crime, poverty, and the HIV pandemic. The group includes blacks, whites, Indians and people of mixed race, all from very different backgrounds.
How, at age 21, will they have coped with lifes challenges? Watching 21 Up South Africa, you feel part voyeur, part social anthropologist.
By 2006, three of the 14 have died of AIDS-related illnesses. The others are carving out their adult identitiesgoing to college, looking for jobs, getting married, having children. Only two seem truly self-assured: Willem aspires to become a player for the Springboks (South Africas beloved national rugby team) and is pursuing a degree in sports management; Claudia is studying science with the hope of transferring to med school.
Amongst the remaining cohort is Lizette, a pregnant housewife who says she has a perfect life, but is so bored that shes learned to like reading because it makes her days pass more quickly. Katlego, a well-heeled young black man, is overwhelmed by the position of power he finds himself in as a result of the governments black economic empowerment policies. And Thembisile is unemployed, an all-to-common predicament in a country where only one in three women have jobs. I would take any job, she says, I dont care. I would do anything.
The film flashes back to interviews of the young people at ages seven and 14. It strikes you how much seven-year-old children take in from their surroundings, as when a small Willem discusses his feelings about the upcoming racial integration of his school. There will be blacks there until the first break. After break therell be none, he says. Why? asks the interviewer. Because well beat them up.
At 14 he admits that his earlier comments were stupid. A seven-year-old Thembisile says she wants to be a police officer when she grows up because then I can shoot you. It is clear she knows who is behind the some of the killings in her poor black township.
A motherly-sounding narrator ties the vignettes together, and she often stresses that these are children that have grown up with more opportunities than their parents. They are Mandelas children, after all. Nevertheless, you come away from the film with a real sense of how difficult it is to suddenly give everyone equal opportunitythe playing field is remarkably resistant to leveling, even when the political will is there. South Africa may be the continents largest economy, but most of these young people, like Frans, remain at its fringes.
The highlight of the DVDs skimpy bonus features is an intriguing four-minute excerpt of a Roger Ebert interview with Michael Apted, in which both men talk about the strange experience of growing old with the people in the Up films. Gibsons work is a worthy and compelling complement to Apteds groundbreaking series. He is an accomplished filmmaker known for tackling meaty topics, having been nominated for a Best Documentary Oscar in 1996 for Mandela. And what could be meatier than the future of a country and its children? For real reality, turn off Big Brother Africa, and turn on 21 Up.
Rating:
Comments
Now on PopMatters
<>Today ?<> Recent ?<> Popular ?<> Discussed
PM Picks
Film Archive
Announcements
Ratings
10 - The Best of the Best
9 - Very Nearly Perfect
8 - Excellent
7 - Damn Good
6 - Good
5 - Average
4 - Unexceptional
3 - Weak
2 - Seriously Flawed
1 - Terrible
? 1999-2011 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters.com? and PopMatters? are trademarks
of PopMatters Media, Inc. and PopMatters Magazine.
PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated.
