YESTERDAY  (2004, South Africa, 96 min.), written and directed by Darrell James Roodt;; produced by Anant Singh; cinematography by Michael Brierley; music by Madala Kunene; edited by Avril Beukes; with Leleti Khumalo (Yesterday), Lihle Mvelase (Beauty, her daughter), Kenneth Kambule (John Kumalo, her husband), Harriet Lahabe (Teacher), Camilla Walker (Doctor).  In isiZulu with English subtitles.

 

 

Jot down answers to the following questions, and answer three in detail (approx. 150 words each).  One of those should be the final question.  Try to bring in readings when possible.

 

 

1.         Discuss the film’s title.  Obviously, it refers to the lead character, but like any good title, it functions on several levels.  Discuss them.

 

 

 

 

2.         Discuss the setting.   How would you characterize the landscape here?  

 

 

 

 

3.         What do you notice about the village?  What are the women in it like?  Do your feelings about the village change over the course of the film?

 

 

 

 

 

4.         You’ll notice that the film’s structure follows the seasons of the year.   Why do you think the filmmakers chose to do it that way?

 

 

 

 

5.         Discuss the film’s opening?  What is accomplished here?

 

 

 

 

6.         Discuss Yesterday.  What kind of woman is she?  What does she look like, talk like?  Does she develop over the course of the film?

 

 

 

 

7.         Discuss Yesterday’s relationship with her daughter, Beauty.

 

 

 

 

8.         Discuss her relationship with her husband.  Trace its development.

 

 

 

 

9.         How about her relationship with the Teacher and the Doctor?

 

 

 

 

10.       It comes as quite a shock when Yesterday leaves her village for Johannesburg, doesn’t it?  What do you notice about the city and her experience of it?

 

 

 

 

11.       How would you characterize the use of music in the film?  Contrast it with the way that music was used in last week’s film, Out of Africa.

 

 

 

 

12.       Discuss the film’s ending.  Is it the right one for this film? 

 

 

 

 

13.       What do you think of the cinematography (framing, lighting, camera movement) in the film?  Any scenes that struck you?

 

 

 

 

14.       Some have criticized the film for being overly didactic, too much a “message” film with respect to its depiction of AIDS in South Africa.  Do you agree?

 

 

 

 

15.       This film was nominated both for an Oscar (Best Foreign Film) and for an Emmy (because it was co-produced by HBO and appeared on that network).   So, it is a film that is in some ways palatable to a mainstream American audience.  Yet it could not by any means be considered a Hollywood film.  What are some of the ways in which it is more “African” than “Hollywood.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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