Five Fingers for Marseilles (2017)

Lives change forever when Tau, the young lion, kills two corrupt policemen in a South African shanty town.

Director:

Michael Matthews

Writers:

Sean Drummond, Sean Drummond

Stars:

Zethu Dlomo, Garth Breytenbach, Kenneth Fok

6 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Zethu Dlomo	...	Lerato
Garth Breytenbach	...	Officer De Vries
Kenneth Fok	...	Wei
Anthony Oseyemi	...	Congo
Warren Masemola	...	Thuto
Jerry Mofokeng	...	Jonah
Vuyo Dabula	...	Tau
Brendon Daniels	...	Slim Sixteen
Kenneth Nkosi	...	Bongani
Dean Fourie	...	Honest John
Mduduzi Mabaso	...	Luyanda
Aubrey Poolo	...	Unathi
Hamilton Dhlamini	...	Sepoko
Lizwi Vilakazi	...	Sizwe

Storyline

Twenty years ago, the young 'Five Fingers' fought for the rural town of Marseilles, against brutal police oppression. Now, after fleeing in disgrace, freedom-fighter-turned-'outlaw' Tau returns to Marseilles, seeking only a peaceful pastoral life. When he finds the town under new threat, he must reluctantly fight to free it. can he free himself from his past? Will the Five Fingers stand again?

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Taglines:

There Are No Good Men

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller | Western

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Details

Country:

South Africa

Language:

Xhosa Southern Sotho

Release Date:

7 September 2018 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lupta pentru Marseilles

Filming Locations:

Johannesburg, South Africa

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Game 7 Films, Stage 5 Films, The Be Phat Motel Film Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

All of the language in the film is authentic. Director Michael Matthews said they went to great lengths to have local languages represented in the film. It switches from English to Xhosa and Sesotho.

User Reviews

A very good movie..

NB: If you're Sotho, the accent and bad vocabulary will put you off. I'm glad I was told this before watching, so I went in prepared and told myself to ignore this.

Viewing quality - The scenery is absolutely breathtaking and the cameraman wasn't stingy at all. During scenes, the panning is very clean. The night shots aren't so great for me though. They were a little restrictive with the lighting. The colour scheme shows that the town has warm weather, however, I wish the night lighting would resemble shots like these[goo.gl/Njhfg7]. The night scenes should have been nice, crisp, night shots, but with a warm feel instead of the cold blue like the image on that link. I've noticed that a lot of South African films are a little behind when it comes to lighting.

Storyline - I will not be giving away much, but it's about a boy from a small oppressed town, who had to run away from his neighbourhood after doing something really bad and returned home as an adult only to find that the oppression hasn't changed - It is the oppressors who have changed. I'll refrain from adding to this to avoid giving spoilers.

Quality of play - Apart from the accent, the acting and film quality was perfect. There are quite a few mysteries that make you feel like it would be a good idea to watch the movie again, but not at the cinema. It doesn't feel like a rush.

Movie conclusion (my version) - You live by the gun, you die by the gun - Hence the constant and explicit 'voilence' references throughout the movie. The scene about the pastor at the very end sealed it for me. If you haven't watched you'll have to watch to understand.

Sigh.. Okay about the Sesotho - I think Michael Matthews disregarded the fact that a bad accent can affect a movie negatively. I'm not sure if the target market is international, but South Africans, including non-Sotho speaking South Africans could hear that the accent was very off. This was with almost all the actors, including the main actors. It seems like the line-up was more important though. After all, seeing who is starring is has a lot of people interested in the movie. If only the actors spoke proper Sesotho.