Life, Above All

A drama

• Written by Dennis Foon and Oliver Schmit
• Directed by  Oliver Schmit

Children must often carry greater and more difficult burdens than they should bear. Occasionally, an unusually capable child is up to the task.

That’s the case with Chanda (Khomotso Manyaka) in this remarkably touching and emotional film from South Africa. Only 12 years old, her father long dead, Chanda’s baby half-sister has just died. Her step-father is a useless drunk. Her mother isn’t well, and is getting sicker. Two young half-siblings need care. The family’s one close friend is more concerned with respectability than love.  Her own best friend has become a prostitute.

Because the word is not spoken until quite late in the film, I’m not going to name the scourge that is destroying lives all around her. You can probably guess it (I did). It’s shocking how this disease, so common in that part of the world, is still taboo. The shame of having it, or of someone in your family having it, is worse than the disease itself.

Chanda is an amazing, intelligent, and loving girl at the beginning of adolescence. She does very well at school–at least before family problems begin to take their toll. She remains loyal to friends and family even when her loyalty shocks and offends the community. In one scene she escapes her crushing responsibilities to attend a party and flirt with a boy, and we get a tantalizing glimpse of the happy life she could have in other circumstances–and may one time find for herself.

Life, Above All depends entirely on Khomotso Manyaka’s performance. Manyaka was only 13 when the film was shot, and without acting experience. Yet she brings depth, courage, tragedy, and charisma to the roll of a girl forced to grow beyond her years. Just as I want the fictitious Chanda to get the life she deserves, so I hope that Manyaka enjoys the successful career that her talent should bring her.

I saw  Life, Above All at the 2011 San Francisco International Film Festival. Manyaka was there in person (as was director Oliver Schmit). When the young actress spoke to the audience, she was a typical shy teenager–very different from the character she played.