The heart-wrenching story of Poppie Nongena
Apartheid was ruthless and the story of Poppie Nongena, currently on at Maerua Mall Ster-Kinekor, is a brutal reminder.
I watched the movie sitting next to a white elderly woman, who tried her best to justify the horrors of apartheid we were about to witness once again.
“You know the British also treated our people badly. Those concentration camps were horrible,” she remarked.
However, my biggest fear at that point was that the movie would be a white-washed version of the painful but so inspiring story of the woman who changed my entire outlook on life as an eight-year-old girl.
But thankfully, it was not. It was a true reflection of how Poppie walked long distances to apply for a permit to stay in Cape Town, begged with government officials to have mercy on her to raise another woman's child while her own were exposed to police brutality.
The movie is based on the award-winning novel titled The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena by Elsa Joubert – available locally at Book Buddy and Exclusive Books –and tells the story of Poppie, a fierce Afrikaans-speaking Xhosa woman from Upington.
Poppie is the wife of Stone, who is too ill to take a contract for work, a situation which under the apartheid system makes Poppie an illegal resident, facing repeated arrests and the risk of being evicted from Cape Town to the homelands in Transkei.
However, despite the ever-present horrors of apartheid throughout the movie, the story of Poppie as a loving mother, devoted wife and, above all, a relentless fighter for human rights is not lost on the viewer.
And so she finds herself in the middle of a fight to keep her family intact and alive, eventually giving in and leaving Cape Town on the eve of the 1976 freedom riots.
The movie is drenched in painful memories, but Poppie's brother Plank, a silly drunkard, brings a bittersweet humour to the story.
Then there is Poppie's son Bonisile, who joins the 'comrades' and reminds her that she was not there for them.
When she confronts him for his decision to join the comrades, saying she no longer knows her child, he retorts: “How could you, you are never here”.
A dagger to her mother's heart – after all, her sacrifices and degradations in her master and madam's house were to give her children a better life.
Media 24 describes the novel as one of the best African books of the 20th century.
In the film, South African actress Clementine Mosimane plays the role of Poppie, while Antoinette is played by Anna-Mart van der Merwe.
The two women shared a very close bond, so much so that Antoinette's racist husband felt compelled to remind her: “Poppie is nie jou vriendin nie, sy is die meid” (Poppie is not your friend, she is the maid).
Award-winning screenwriter and playwright Christiaan Olwagen directed the film, with Vicci Turpin as the cinematographer. Olwagen's previous work includes the critically acclaimed films Johnny is Nie Dood Nie, Die Seemeeu and Kanarie.
[email protected]
JEMIMA BEUKES
I watched the movie sitting next to a white elderly woman, who tried her best to justify the horrors of apartheid we were about to witness once again.
“You know the British also treated our people badly. Those concentration camps were horrible,” she remarked.
However, my biggest fear at that point was that the movie would be a white-washed version of the painful but so inspiring story of the woman who changed my entire outlook on life as an eight-year-old girl.
But thankfully, it was not. It was a true reflection of how Poppie walked long distances to apply for a permit to stay in Cape Town, begged with government officials to have mercy on her to raise another woman's child while her own were exposed to police brutality.
The movie is based on the award-winning novel titled The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena by Elsa Joubert – available locally at Book Buddy and Exclusive Books –and tells the story of Poppie, a fierce Afrikaans-speaking Xhosa woman from Upington.
Poppie is the wife of Stone, who is too ill to take a contract for work, a situation which under the apartheid system makes Poppie an illegal resident, facing repeated arrests and the risk of being evicted from Cape Town to the homelands in Transkei.
However, despite the ever-present horrors of apartheid throughout the movie, the story of Poppie as a loving mother, devoted wife and, above all, a relentless fighter for human rights is not lost on the viewer.
And so she finds herself in the middle of a fight to keep her family intact and alive, eventually giving in and leaving Cape Town on the eve of the 1976 freedom riots.
The movie is drenched in painful memories, but Poppie's brother Plank, a silly drunkard, brings a bittersweet humour to the story.
Then there is Poppie's son Bonisile, who joins the 'comrades' and reminds her that she was not there for them.
When she confronts him for his decision to join the comrades, saying she no longer knows her child, he retorts: “How could you, you are never here”.
A dagger to her mother's heart – after all, her sacrifices and degradations in her master and madam's house were to give her children a better life.
Media 24 describes the novel as one of the best African books of the 20th century.
In the film, South African actress Clementine Mosimane plays the role of Poppie, while Antoinette is played by Anna-Mart van der Merwe.
The two women shared a very close bond, so much so that Antoinette's racist husband felt compelled to remind her: “Poppie is nie jou vriendin nie, sy is die meid” (Poppie is not your friend, she is the maid).
Award-winning screenwriter and playwright Christiaan Olwagen directed the film, with Vicci Turpin as the cinematographer. Olwagen's previous work includes the critically acclaimed films Johnny is Nie Dood Nie, Die Seemeeu and Kanarie.
[email protected]
JEMIMA BEUKES
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