Noem My Skollie (Call Me Thief)

I’ve only gotten the feeling that Noem My Skollie (Call Me Thief) gave me once before. It reminded me of the emotions I experienced while I was watching Shok, the Oscar nominated short film from director Jamie Donoughue, which is based on true events during the Kosovo war. Shok shook me. It opened my eyes to a world unknown to me. But did Call Me Thief’s reminiscence result in induced sympathy due to an emotive Shok, or did the production succeed in provoking empathy in its own right?

Call Me Thief is an Afrikaans film set with the troubled 1960’s Cape Flats as backdrop. We are introduced to a young man called AB (Austin Rose) by his friends, but Abraham by his mother, and his three best friends; Gimba (Ethan Patton), Gif (Joshua Vraagom) and Shorty (Valentino de Klerk). After a series of horrific events, AB decides that the four of them should no longer aim to one day be accepted into an existing gang, but should rather form their own – The Young Ones. The Young Ones are now on an abysmal path, willing to do anything in order to earn the respect of their elders and intimidate their opposition.

Skip a few years ahead and The Young Ones has achieved their goal. Roaming the streets of the crime-ridden and impoverished Flats, AB and his gang feel invincible until the inevitable happens when the then-mighty South African Police Service makes Lady Justice smile – a smile more beautiful than that of Mona Lisa. All this and the film hasn’t even been rolling for half of its justified 2h30.

I must admit that I have never seen a production of this quality from the South African film industry, keeping the bar set by It’s Me, Anna in mind. I like to think that nothing gets by me when I experience a film. I’m attentive to everything from continuity to set dressing and wardrobe design and not a single thing was out of place. Every scrupulous detail such as President H.F. Verwoerd’s address to the nation playing over the stereo in the background to the linguistic quality of Afrikaans in the 1960’s contributed to the empathy evoked in each and every audience member. It resulted in tears rolling down the cheeks of viewers sitting next to me and gasps of shock coming from those behind me. It manifested an understanding of the Cape Flats’ Gangs in the minds of viewers who have not yet been confronted with the treacherous reality in which innocence is thrusted at ages where melting ice-cream dripping from a cone is supposed to be the worst part of the day.  My only wish is that the film’s score had contributed more to the film in order to accentuate the emotions provoked.

The film has the feeling of an Oscar Nominated Film. It has the capacity and the attentiveness that authenticates not only a nomination but an Academy Award. And if by chance the director, Daryne Joshua, might be reading this; thank you. Thank you for breathing artistic life into the Afrikaans Film Industry and thank you for highlighting the immense talent that South Africa has to offer the world. You do not want to miss this film.

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