Five Fingers for Marseilles

Me

source: Five Fingers for Marseilles

Amazing Cinematography, slow build and rising tension was great. Good acting and the fact it was in Sotho really added to the atmosphere. Highly recommend this.

Rushing toward the police car that has crashed in nearby brush, Tau races to rescue Lerato from the back of the police vehicle. As he nears the car, a white policeman slowly gets out of the car and is holding Lerato who is being held by gunpoint. This intense scene is just a glimpse of the suspenseful western, Five Fingers for Mareilles, which has proven to be a revolutionary piece of South African cinematography directed by the talented Michael Matthews. Matthews has decided to stay true to the South African culture, picking the native language as the movie's main dialogue and hiring a crop of new South African actors who are remarkable. Vuyo Dabula, who plays the Tau, the lion on Mareilles impressed me with an engaging performance that immersed me into his adventure of saving his hometown from the clutches of the feared Sepoko and his gang. The movie takes a twist on the bildungs roman genre, giving the audience a glimpse into South African society through the growth of the five fingers, the childhood clique Tau was a part of before an unfortunate event caused his life to spiral. The cinematography is stunning, prioritizing wide shots and muted colors to represent the open landscape of rural South Africa. It takes the classic spaghetti western genre and makes the movie its own, being modern through the use of parallels and breaking down racial walls with featuring a mostly all black cast that was phenomenal. I will be waiting for more work to feature Dabula as he gives an emotional performance, making an impact on me throughout his performance in the film.

A few young kids defending against Police oppression in their shanty town, get caught up in tragedy ,when one of them kill the Police , and has to banish himself from his people and town, becomes a feared outlaw thru the years ,decides to give up that life to go home to find peace and redemption, he find his homecoming not quite what he expected , that incident that happened years ago changed the lives of those who witnessed that crime and the people who live there , his soul has not healed from his own deeds and he witness the sufferings of his loved ones, due to the corrupted law enforcement and a Gang with a maniacal leader whose hellbent on taking the town away and destroying a peaceful environment, he tries very hard to make amends and also very reluctant to defend those in need until he's pushed over the edge, I find a lot of references to the Spaghetti Western genre in this film and it works, the scenery and the acting in this film is exceptional, it's slow moving and emotional at times while being kept at the edge of your seat towards the conclusion, a sleeper western that is bound to become a Cult classic in the future.

A localized Western wonna be ripoff. weak childish story. no development, weak typical characters, and amateur directing. The movie has nothing genuine to say. It looks like a school project, yet again, I find it hard to believe that any student would think this childish.

Five Fingers for Marseilles