Film Forum

“THE WOUND was born out of a desire to push back against clichéd stereotypes of black masculinity, perpetuated inside and outside of African cinema,” says filmmaker John Trengove. A Johannesburg teenager is forced by his uncle (who thinks he’s too “soft”) to return to his native village for a ritual Xhosa circumcision and group initiation into manhood. He’s teased mercilessly for refusing to remove his fancy sneakers, even in the forest, and for his defiant attitude to just about everything that’s required of him. But, as the sexual relationship between two of the men becomes apparent to him, his outsider presence morphs from uncomfortable to dangerous. The film sensitively and dramatically limns an Africa where traditions and values that for centuries defined manhood are on a collision course with the 21st century.

The 7:00 show on Thursday, August 17 will be presented by NewFest.

SOUTH AFRICA / GERMANY/ THE NETHERLANDS / FRANCE • 2016 • 88 MINS. 

IN XHOSA WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES • KINO LORBER

Reviews

“Powerful. A potent drama of sexual identity and divided loyalty.... Sensitive to the nuances of culture and the blurred boundaries between homosocial masculinity and homosexual desire, THE WOUND is affecting and suspenseful.”
– A. O. Scott, The New York Times

“(The film) takes real chances, delivering a troubling portrait of the collision between communal and personal identity… John Trengove is clearly more concerned with the psychic and emotional damage of a persistent taboo against homosexuality. Paul Ozgur’s alert camerawork captures the dangerously shifting dynamics, and the strong performances are fueled by the wild beauty of the rural setting.”
– Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter

“(An) assured first feature from writer-director John Trengove. The initial promise of a South African BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN broadens into a measured consideration of class, race, self-loathing and self-assertion in a compact but complex drama… the wider focus is very much much on contrasts between urban and rural, ancient and modern, wealth and poverty.”
– Allan Hunter, Screen Daily