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SAFFCANADA-2024 Review The Umbrella Men
Movie Title: The Umbrella Men
Year 2022
Country: South Africa
Language: English and Afrikaans with Eng Subtitles
Director: John Barker
If you have never been to Cape Town, South Africa, you are in for a treat. The Umbrella Men is filmed in an area previously called District 6, a mixed residential area close to the city centre. The area was once known for its lively community, many cultures, and music. It changed because of segregation and became dilapidated, but today it is once again a thriving community revitalized with multi coloured buildings and narrow streets. It is now known as Bo-Kaap. The Goema Club – the focal point of The Umbrella Men and the headquarters for a group of musicians who participate in the annual Cape Minstrel Carnival. …..The head of the Club has just died and his son Jerome who had moved to Johannesburg some time back and is estranged from the family, is in Cape Town to attend the funeral. He is the sole heir, but does not want to inherit the club and would prefer to sign it over to his father’s companion Aunty Val. He discovers that the club has been signed over to the bank as collateral for an enormous sum of a million Rand, due to accumulated debts his father incurred helping the community. His father’s former business partner, an unscrupulous carpet dealer and crime lord also known as Uncle Tariek is planning to take it over with a scheme with the bank manager. Jerome does not want to let this happen and plans a bank heist to rob the bank.. Of course there is a double cross, and some mistakes in the planning, and a romantic connection that saves the day. But it would spoil the fun scenes to give away the plot. …..There are many colourful scenes and scenarios throughout the film, good acting as well as some exquisite shots of beautiful Cape Town. The pacing is deliberate and a little slow in the early stages, but moves rapidly to a wonderful finish.