Die Wonderwerker (2012) User Reviews

An absorbing, moving and excellent film - filmed on rugged and beautiful rural locations

[JeffersonCody · 8/10 · 4 January 2013]

DIE WONDERWERKER (2012): with Dawid Minnaar, Elize Cawood, Marius Weyers, Anneke Weideman, Kaz McFadden, Sandra Kotzé and Cobus Rossouw, directed by Katinka Heyns. Rating: *** ½ out of **** stars. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

An absorbing, moving and excellent period drama - filmed on rugged, magnificent rural locations - which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend to discerning cinema goers.

Like "Roepman", "Jerusalema" and "Tsotsi", Katinka Heyns' "Die Wonderwerker" is one of the best South Africans films I have seen yet.

Beautifully photographed, and sensitively and passionately directed by Katinka Heyns ("Paljas", "Die Storie van Klara Viljee") from a finely detailed script by her husband Chris Barnard, it is, in my opinion, world class fare. An affecting Dawid Minnaar is marvelous as the famous (in South Africa) Afrikaans poet, naturalist, writer and morphine addict Eugene Marais and the entire cast is very good, but Elize Cawood is absolutely outstanding and is likely to garner many local awards.

This is the second South African film about Eugene Marais - Athol Fugard played him in the fine, award winning, Ross Devenish-directed 1977 movie, "The Guest" (An Episode in the Life of Eugene Marais). "Die Wonderwerker", however, is a far superior film to "The Guest".

South Africa's unsung genius

[mitch-a-berger · 9/10 · 13 December 2012]

Like Katinka Heyn's other offerings, 'Die Wonderwerker' is a beautiful and romantic tale - deep in character study, poetic, and insightful. It is remarkable that this director has not received the acclaim she so completely deserves. Rising beyond politics and cheap effects, she has a way of entering into the spirit of the Afrikaans people, and through the portrayal of their inter-connectedness with the African countryside and way of life, she enters into the universal themes of yearning, unrequited passions, and love.

'Die Wonderwerker' is a marvel of movie-making. We enter into the heat and dust of an African farm, and yet always, feel saturated by its beauty. We are shown the impossibility of satisfaction in our desires, and yet we are left with a feeling for the naturalness of love.

If there is any part of you that loves poetry; if you are a lover of nature and life; if you can spend hours staring at the mystery of moonlight and the beauty of an open unhindered plain, then I urge you, see this beautiful movie.

And if, like me, you are left in a wide open space - emotional, expansive, and deeply fulfilled, then seek out Katinka Heyns' other magnificent offerings - "Paljas", and "Die storie van Klara Viljee". To my mind, she is South Africa's greatest film-maker, and easily the equal of any great film-maker to be found in the world.

Will this film be discussed in 50 years time ?

[antfr99 · 7/10 · 29 September 2012]

I haven't made up my mind if I enjoyed this movie or not when I came out of the cinema so I will just keep to some general impressions and let you make up your own mind if you see it:

Minor spoilers under the first point 1 due to the comparisons to other films.

Reasons I found this film lekker :

1. We have seen variations of this film below in such films as Harold and Maude, Lolita and maybe even Shane. This Afrikaans version is refreshing just for the fact that it's from an Afrikaans cultural perspective.

2. It delves away from the main story in interesting ways. The poet's research on the farm and the use of wildlife to drive some of the drama is a fresh and interesting way of filmmaking. It occasionally moves away from plot heavy storytelling and lingers which is quite entertaining.

3. The contrast between the poet and the boer family gives the film energy. Contrasts such as these are often used in film, but this is an interesting mixture due to the fact that poetry is not often placed in the same world as that of the boer farm.

4. The actors did not feel like drama school students or reruns of the usual South African actors. An Afrikaans person might disagree with this. The main character was played well with just enough complexity and thankfully not a lot of pretentiousness.

5. Thankfully it stays away from the racial issue which was a nice change for a SA film.

Reasons I did not find this film so lekker :

1 It felt like I was watching a soapie sometimes along the lines of Isidingo or Egoli. The story line ultimately did not bring the viewer to a place of insight in the characters or the Afrikaans culture.

2 Why were all the female characters so strong and all 3 of the male characters so weak? This is not a weakness in the film , it just felt strange, biased, unrealistic and maybe too much of a modern take on the early twentieth century. This point could also fall into the above strengths of the film.

3 I would have loved to have seen more scenery of the countryside and panoramic shots. The cinematography sometimes fell short of giving a sense of time and space.

Best South African film ever

[fvwyk1-804-458094 · 10/10 · 31 January 2015]

This was probably one of the best South African films I have ever seen, but it is not every ones cup of tea, as it is very dark and almost nihilistic. Eugene Marais was indeed one of the most radical thinkers of his days, and although this film portrays him hypnotizing baboons and making the paralyzed walk, his phenomenal intellect makes him one of the icons of our free thinking past.

Marais, like many other freethinkers and academics in those days, was a tragic figure and the darkness of his drug dependency constantly plagues the viewer in a most disturbing fashion. Pity that this film did not end up on the international film noir circuit as it is indeed one of the very few gems that were produced in an otherwise very commercialized South African cinema industry. Amazing stuff!

a touch of pure heart

[RedRainbowUnicorn23 · 10/10 · 4 February 2015]

This movie is excellent nothing wrong with it and the love story between Jane(anneke Weideman) and Eugene(Dawid minnaar) is one of the most romantic love stories of the Afrikaans movie era. Jane living with people on a farm after the war struggles with her daily life until one day a man named Eugene Marais a very famous Afrikaans and English researcher and poet arrives at the farm terribly sick.He claims it's malaria but actually he suffers form drug abuse.Through time Jane 19 years old falls in love with Eugene and a love stories unfolds. Eugene knows his problem and knows it is never hoing to work.So at one point he leaves and he says goodbye to Jane and tells her she has her whole life ahead of her and its not going to be with him.Jane was heart broken but let him go. Jane saw him again 12 years later and realizes he was rite...... This movie was directed by Katinka Heyns and all a movie needs is her touch because every single one she made so far was a huge success for example Paljas,Fiela se kind,die stories van Klara Viljee.

Take the good with the bad.

[mnell76 · 6/10 · 23 December 2012]

I sat down to this film bracing myself for another hideously drawn out sermon disguised as a film but found myself unexpectedly engaged. I love the simple moral dilemma, the relationship between Jane and Eugène and the complex family dynamics that surface because of it. Overall; a very interesting script, perhaps a little rough around the edges but good.

However, it has to be said that the success of this film ends with the story. The shooting is maddeningly bland. Moments that are supposed to be tense fall flat and the lighting makes me feel like I'm watching a sitcom.

It's frustrating to see this interesting story so unskillfully portrayed. Some of it is just plain lazy. It was completely amateurish, entire steps in the production process were evidently skipped and hence this film is miles from looking cinematic.

Were this film done by a filmmaker with more vision it might have been marvelous but the story still shines through the crap and that makes it a worthwhile watch.

Beautiful story, beautifully told

[martinhatchuel · 8/10 · 18 July 2015]

Die Wonderweker moved me. I was entranced by the cinematography, and by the rich, evocative images of bushveld life, and I felt I could smell and feel the air of the farm. It's also a beautiful story beautifully told.

Reviewer Mitch Berger http://www.imdb.com/user/ur35244565/ put it perfectly: "If there is any part of you that loves poetry; if you are a lover of nature and life; if you can spend hours staring at the mystery of moonlight and the beauty of an open unhindered plain, then I urge you, see this beautiful movie."

Another masterpiece from Katinka Heyns.