Popular reviews

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  Review by Zeke ★★★½

  A film of insurmountable importance not only in South African cinema but African cinema as a whole, Lionel Rogosin's Come Back, Africa interlaces various filmic influences within its visceral depiction of race and poverty. A docufiction secretly filmed in 1950s Johannesburg that incorporates neorealism and cinéma vérité, Rogosin emphasises an ideological indictment of Apartheid.

  Some slightly stiff acting and writing that tends to be a little too on-the-nose aside, Come Back, Africa possesses an everlasting topicality.

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  Review by AntoniusBlock7 ★★★½

  Effective in transporting us to South Africa and giving us a window into the brutality of apartheid, perhaps less effective in telling its story. Regardless of whether you see this as a documentary or not (personally, I didn’t), using non-professional actors resulted in a lot of stilted, wooden scenes, something which took away from the experience. On the other hand, the humanistic spirit of the thing, showing the grotesquely unfair “pass laws” and poor living conditions, can’t be denied. We see cultural elements like music and dancing, but also a conversation about politics and the human condition, which I thought was fantastic. Great work from Lionel Rogosin, though a shame he didn’t make a similar film in Mississippi at the time.

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  Review by russman ★★★½

  Zachariah isn't a tough name to remember

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  Review by Lily Ho ★★★★

  The film was secretly shot in 1959 in order to show the everyday life and the condition of the people living in the township, Johannesburg, South Africa. All the actors are no profesionnal, however they play their own role and at the same time invent their roles. The film is that sense is very close to documentary, and feels very real, there are many shots in the streets, it's very musical (even Miriam Makeba appears and songs 2 wonderful songs).
  We follow Zacharia who left his countryside in order to find work in the mines, he then goes to Johannesburg where he finds different jobs (domestic work, restaurant/hotel, garage, road work..) but each time he is exposed by the segregation…

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  Review by Brayden Josh Malinga ★★★★½

  I cried twice. I think the hardest thing to swallow is the similarilty between 60's South Africa and it's contemporary self. The men at the shebeen talking philosophy, I could watch them for hours. An exuberantly powerful film made in secret against the Apartheid government. A crucial film in every way.

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  Review by Post1000Tension

  The rare film that succeeds as both journalism and art. Neorealism at its most incisive.

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  Review by L ★★★★★

  For what this movie is and the place it was filmed, it earns a full 10/10. Was it exciting and engaging the whole time? Of course not. Were there scenes that transitioned out way too quickly? Sure. Was the acting pure trash at times? Of course—what the fuck else can you expect from a pseudodoc that uses no actual actors to try and tell the stories of people living in Apartheid?

  This is Close-Up’s grandpa—a rough beast with a completely different focus and presentation, but a link one cannot avoid. Whereas Close-Up handles dreams and art, this film handles reality’s misery in every crushing blow.

  Also, the music is fuckin’ A+

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  Review by jeanishimwe ★★★★

  “The liberal just doesn’t want a grown up African. He wants the African he can patronize, pat on his head, and tell him that ‘with just a bit of luck, some day you’ll be a grown up man - fully civilized…They’ll promise you the vote, while they’re having the country

  They can keep the vote! We want the country, then we’ll give them the vote”

  Been meaning to watch this movie for a very long time. A real achievement in guerrilla filmmaking and the South African liberation/cultural tradition.

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  Review by Saturnome 🦆

  Mon gars Lionel tranquille relax en train d'inventer la nouvelle vague alors qu'il avait promis aux autorités sud-africaines qu'il était juste en train de tourner un documentaire sur la musique locale 👌

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  Review by Lencho of the Apes ★★★

  Johannesburg neo-realism, life under apartheid, the boot pressing against a human face forever.

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  Review by Tomas T. ★★★½

  Film #33: Film School Drop Outs (2018 Weekly Challenge)

  Theme: Postcolonial African Cinema

  This film, made during the dark days of South African apartheid, is a patchwork of sorrow and elation sown with the bravest of hands. Using non-professionals to tell a universal story of black oppression under the guise of a musical travelogue, Lionel Rogosin documents a hateful time with unflinching directness—a time that, while now ended in South Africa, continues elsewhere. You can’t help but see the connections. The processes of racial subjugation remain embedded in so many of the same frameworks, whether they be socioeconomic, legal, or political. When one system collapses, another takes its place. The cycle continues unabated, and this is the proof. When a…

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  Review by jyoun

  Through the first part this does feel like a standard ethnography by a British director, notable at least for showing things the South African government wouldn’t want to be seen, but the roundtable discussion scene is the crown jewel and something everyone needs to witness. Especially coming late in the film after we’ve only seen the characters in the constant survival mode forced upon them, having to constantly negotiate to have their basic needs met, it’s a revelation to then see real people speaking in their own words and maintaining community. Considering at this time how seldom Africans were allowed to speak for themselves to an international audience, and that it would be some years still before Sembène and others…