“Brilliantly acted! Some of the anti-glitzy choices (notably the decision to cast two leads with actors who aren’t svelte,
then insisting upon their sexiness) add to the film’s neo-realist grit…
The music still pierces, the blood still flows, and the overall conception is so original that… it dazzles in the memory.”
– Matt Zoller Seitz, The New York Times
“Buzzing with plenty of rump-shaking from the female chorus.
The delightful experience of hearing the score rendered in the tongue clicks of Xhosa and Malefane’s imperious slow burn.”
– Melissa Anderson, Time Out NY
“U-CARMEN is a revelation of the most uplifting variety! Forget the Paris Opera House.
Welcome to opera verite, where the proscenium has been replaced by dusty streets
and the cramped interiors of this South African shantytown.
Ms. Malefane… makes this tragic character a strong, independent and unmistakably modern variation on the old theme.
Everything about U-CARMEN seems more realistic and complex than past versions…
Mr. Dornford-May’s gloriously long takes, captured on handheld cameras as he stands only feet from his performers,
give U-CARMEN an immediacy that staged opera cannot offer.
(He) has taken the formal and made it vibrant for a new generation of audiences.”
– S. James Snyder, The New York Sun
“The setting brims over with the same wicked froth of danger, exoticism, and passion that 19th century Seville must have had.
The Xhosa folk songs incorporated into the opera have so much verve and resonance that they sometimes outshine even Bizet’s music…
Malefane in particular is sensational!”
– Julia Wallace, Village Voice
“A dynamite update of Bizet’s opera! The music breathes, pulsates, seems reborn…
If you’ve been bored by ‘Carmen’ in the opera house, U-CARMEN will unbore you!”
– Jay Carr, amNY
“Bizet’s opera exuberantly restaged in a South African shantytown.
Still the ultimate story of a strong-minded woman whose passion dooms her.”
– New York Magazine
“Pauline Malefane is as wild and dangerous as Carmen should be, with nothing about her of the conventional sexpot.
The irresistible chorus is an entire township.”
– Stuart Klawans, The Nation
“A vivacious film that is a treat for eyes and ears!” – V.A. Musetto, The New York Post
Carmen, perhaps the world’s best-loved opera, with its story of love,
jealousy, revenge and madness, is set in a sprawling South African
shantytown, and sung in Xhosa! George Bizet’s 19th century
spectacle is re-imagined in a naturalistic world of pool halls, bars,
courtyards and barracks. The seductive, boisterous Carmen (who
works in a cigarette factory), is sung with tremendous charisma by
Pauline Malefane. When she sets her sights on a Bible-reading
policeman, he doesn’t stand a chance. Rarely has an opera been made
more modern, relevant or vibrant than in this stunning interpretation,
featuring Dimpho Di Kopane(DDK), the internationally acclaimed
South African theater company.
South Africa • 2005 • 120 minutes •
In Xhosa with English Subtitles • Koch Lorber Films
LINKS:
Dimpho Di Kopane (DDK)
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