Rhode Island International Film Festival 2009

Johannesburg, South Africa. Evening. A young teacher, Tara, is violently assaulted, her money taken, her beloved bracelet ripped from her wrist. Her attacker slips into the night. The following day, Tara confronts her new reality. She returns to school, her face mottled with bruises. Vuyo, twelve years old, strolls into class as on any other day - late - a newly captured treasure hidden in his pencil case. Meanwhile, Themba (Vuyo's older brother) must endure another day as a security guard. He sits on a sidewalk in the posh Northern Suburbs, the guardian of the block. Just like the pair of gargoyles that face him from across the street, he is merely a symbolic deterrent.Tara speaks to her learners about the upcoming teacher strikes and describes the field trip she is offering while the school is closed: a camping trip to a bush camp called Zinyala. This destination conjures up the wild Africa often lost in city life. With remnants of yesterday's lesson - "What is community?" - fading on the blackboard behind her, Tara becomes lost in a description of Johannesburg, how the veldt seems to burst through the seams of the city, the land's heartbeat, its blood. Only Vuyo understands. He shares her passion for this land. Themba sits at his suburban station, a coil of wasted energy. He watches as life moves on without him: a conversation between a house owner and his contractor, a frenzied dog, the shadows of the trees creeping forward as the sun slips through the sky. The gargoyles too. They are also guarding. Doing his job.Back at school, the bell rings and Tara notices some odd activity as Vuyo prepares to leave the classroom. She investigates. Peering inside his desk, she is awed to find a makeshift terrarium instead of books. Vuyo has created another world, a 'wild' of his own. Here is a celebration of the natural world, Zinyala in miniature. Themba stares at the charity fat cakes carried out to him by Dignity, the domestic worker across the road. A Mercedes convertible whizzes down the street; a cigarette is flicked from the open window. Themba stares at the smoldering butt. He is too proud to pick it up. Tara patrols the aisles of her classroom as her students draw their understanding of 'community'. She hesitates at Vuyo's desk, captured by the swirls of green on his paper. Tara asks to see who lives inside his desk. Vuyo hesitantly shows her his newest treasure: a glistening locust. He asks her about Zinyala, and they are lost together in her description of veldt touching sky, hyenas calling in the night. The principle appears at the door and calls Tara into the corridor. She expresses her concern, and Tara insists her injuries are superficial. The final bell rings, and Tara plants herself as a sea of students sweep through the open corridor. As Vuyo passes, Tara neatly swipes a rapper cap from his head, they are not allowed at school. She notices the cap looks strangely familiar. Shaken, she hands the cap back. He asks her what happened to her face. She tells him she was in a car accident. The next day, Saturday, is Themba's only opportunity to buy food. During the week stores are closed by the time he gets off work. He returns to the apartment only to find that Vuyo has hidden his last pack of cigarettes in the freezer. Unbelievable. Vuyo unpacks the meager groceries while Themba dethaws a frozen cigarette. While Themba smokes on the balcony, Vuyo tells him about the field trip. Themba scoffs when he hears the fee. Unable to understand Vuyo's appreciation of the natural world, he asks Vuyo why he is carrying around a locust. Is he is planning to eat the thing? Vuyo throws Themba's cigarette off the balcony and disappears back into the apartment.Themba returns to his bedroom to find Vuyo buried in the shoebox containing the evidence of his 'other life' - gun tucked in his shorts and money in hand. Themba rips the gun from him, reaches for the money. Vuyo retaliates. He tries one last time to show his brother how important this trip is to him, and how special the world is that such a place preserves. Themba cannot understand. Such interests do not pay bills. They tousle, and Themba shakes the boy. Have hyena's ever fed him? Vuyo struggles free. He races from the room, crying. Themba stares after him.Themba reconsiders. He may not approve of his brother's interests, but he will not allow poverty to hold him back. Themba arrives at Vuyo's school, climbs the steps. Meanwhile, a stunned Vuyo collects himself from their explosive encounter. Hungry as usual, he rummages through a drawer, seeking a bread knife to spread some Bovril on the fat cake sitting lonely on the counter. Themba appears in the doorway of Vuyo's classroom to find Tara quietly grading papers. He recognizes her immediately, realizing that it is his own brother's teacher that he assaulted two nights before. Reaching deeper into the back of the kitchen drawer, Vuyo feels something foreign, delicate. At first, Tara is thrilled that Themba has arrived to pay the fees necessary for Vuyo to attend the trip to Zinyala. Only when she is reaching out to receive these funds does she notice her own scratch marks on Themba's hand. Meanwhile, Vuyo draws the strange, delicate object out into the light. He discovers Tara's bracelet gleaming in his hand, a glittering object he had often noticed dancing on her wrist as she wrote on the chalkboard. He stares at the bracelet. Worlds collide and collapse, the jungle emerges. Themba hands Tara the money and backs out of the classroom, slips back down the corridor. Tara reaches into the worn envelope, takes out the bills she recognizes as her own. She falls to the floor. Vuyo lays the bracelet gently on the counter. He brings his hand down upon the locust.