Entabeni - Shakespeare's Macbeth - Review
On a humorous note, I don’t expect Shakespeare to turn in his archaic resting place as his enduring and enchanting play, Macbeth, undergoes yet another artistic, cultural and linguistic make-over to comment on South Africa’s present corporate psychoses and almost tyrannical pre-occupation with the unchecked accumulation of wealth and power. In fact, methinks that the Bard’s bones may even have bounced with smug glee at the modern African immortalization of his bloody classic.
Shakespeare, like many conscious and critical individuals, created work that argues that the existence of the good and ill, resides in all people - Africans notwithstanding, and that the depiction of his tale in a South African language, would be satisfaction and justification enough. Madness, murder, greed, corruption and the insatiable lust for power - by any other name or description, will always be just that, despite the varying degrees, conditions, circumstances and localities where, and in which, they are being perpetrated.
The beneficiaries – filial, ideological and otherwise; the patriotic denialists and spin apologists, always tell us differently, sometimes even under veiled threats of retribution and of political and social exclusion and isolation, when the unbridled excesses of BEE cronyism, are exposed and criticized. I am certain that the Bard would have welcomed such expositions.
Writer Salah Sabiti and director, Norman Maake walked a rough, tough road in their endeavour to retain the central essence and ethos of the creatively inimitable Macbeth tragedy through the mediums of English and isiXhosa. In fact, there are those who argue that attempts to culturally re-cast any original work especially Shakespeare, is a tough call. There will always be the risk of over or under-statement in the re-telling of certain European classics. Entabeni, I’m afraid, did not dramatically and adequately portray the intrigues, plots, the joys (if any), and the consequences which are generally suspected to exist in the BEE chambers of post-Apartheid South Africa.
I want to argue that because most Shakespearean writings agitate for moral imperatives, and warn us of the dire and fatal consequences that usually result when leaders and institutions of political, social and religious governance, arrogantly ignore that lesson. That, was not apparent in the series..
Although the producers of the Entabeni series tried hard to stay true to the ethos of the Shakespearean tale, for me, it did not fully drive home the message to a corporate society which appears to be preoccupied only with the acquisition of wealth, and fails to guard against the public perception of growing misuse of power amid suspicion and charges of nepotism, cronyism and favouritism which constantly receive the attention of the mass media – either for or against.
Agreed, that there were positive and impressive internal filmic portraits including some external poetic landscape shots which touched both the physical and the inward eye. However, if the pursuit for excellence is to mean something, there must be serious and expansive improvement in areas of script writing vis-à-vis, the editing of the language, in the research department; in the movement of the camera as well as in the film editing process. The audio-visual quality was commendable but somewhat inconsistent on occasion particularly towards the climax. There were notable deviations from the script in some of the televised episodes –especially episodes two and four. Two dismal characters were particularly implausible to and with the South African reality and these will be discussed in another paragraph.
While there were other editing incongruences, the editing of the wedding scene as well as scenes mostly depicting the Nombini character, were somewhat erratic and jaggedly edited. The food drug and the strangulation scene; the appearance and the antics of the detective, the connection of the hired killer to Ava – all these, and more, appear to have been done with scant editing responsibility. In hindsight, I would have preferred more professional expertise than the experimental exercise that I surmise to have been the case here.
The mostly isiXhosa dialogue sounded ‘high-brow’– and even deliberately intonated, I dare say. The accessibility of language really laid in the ear of the listener especially those who possess proficiency and comprehension of both English and isiXhosa. Viewers who lacked comprehension of isiXhosa, would have had to be fast readers to follow the translations which means that South Africans, (including foreigners), who do not speak or understand isiXhosa or speed-read English text, have no business watching Entabeni. It is not a good thing and future filmmakers should weigh the matter carefully. However, it must be noted that some English sub-titles had grammatical, spelling and syntax errors.
Objection must be expressed to the implausible image of our police detectives as portrayed in the American caricature of Inspector Oliphant especially in his wardrobe, mannerisms, biltong-chewing (instead of bubblegum) habit, and his drooled vocabulary. Even the B-graded American and Italian movies, do not show such cheap law enforcement imitations.
Missing also were the ‘good-guy’ characters that may hopefully still exist in that kingdom of politics, power and cash. Indeed, not all BEE proponents are ruthless money and power-mongers and without wanting to pontificate, the Fana character does not give any poignant representation of good-guy behaviour other than being the victim of the Ava-Kumkani plot to kill him and usurp power.
The Kumkani, Ava portrayals were fairly consistent and believable but a trite overly done particularly in the strangulation scene during which Kumkani gave a piercing scream.. But why the remorseful scream; killers never do that; it’s usually the victim that does the screaming. But for the scheming, goading, treacherous yet believable Ava (Lady Macbeth) Modise, the few other women in the series, including the so-called prophetic Nombini and the bit-part actresses, did not fit in or fully portray their roles. Senzo’s role as a co-business conspirator and chief ally to Kumkani’s power-mongering dreams and a lover to the heiress daughter as well as the prophesied ‘king of kings ’was not well-defined nor shaped nor was the portrayal of his inebriated and hapless wife. The Senzo character was not believable at all.
Television and film are there to teach and educate society – warts and all, and to simultaneously entertain and provide space for critical thought about those non-negotiable norms, values and ethics that are intended to shape and guide individuals, societies and even nations and call attention to moral uprightness, accountability, honesty, justice and fair-play in our conduct with one another.
It is propitious and fitting to say that creative activists such as Shakespeare and many others – past and present, knew and had lived and even died for those plain truths which others are sweeping under the carpets of immoral expediency. There must always be the hope that all South Africans – the ordinary and the not-so ordinary will learn the tragic lessons which the Entabeni production tried to teach us.
We owe it to our children…
Don Mattera May 5, 2008
Entabeni is the first six part mini series to be televised under the SABC’s groundbreaking strand of Shakespeare in Mzanzi. In the same slot over the next few weeks is Izingane Zobaba (King Lear), Uguguo no Andile (Romeo and Juliet), Death of a Queen (Macbeth) and Jolile ka Khesa (Juilius Caesar). These series were developed through Sediba, the training and development program of the NFVF.
