The Wound
Former Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe, for instance, repeatedly made scathing remarks about gays. He views homosexuality as a symptom of Western decadence that is threatening “traditional” culture. Other African leaders share Mugabe’s view. It’s a way of thinking that led South African director John Trengrove to shoot his first feature film, The Wound. What if homosexuality really is some sort of virus penetrating the patriarchal organism? How would that organism react?
Factory worker Xolani, magnificently played by musician and gay activist Nakhane Touré, lives in the city. Once a year, he returns to his native town to act as a “caregiver” to guide teenagers who participate in ukwaluka, an eight-day Xhosa initiation ritual to make boys into men. One of them is 16-year-old outsider Kwanda from Johannesburg, who’d rather skip the whole initiation. But then he discovers Xolani’s big secret: that he’s gay. The discovery rips apart Xolani’s life’s foundations.
Winner World Cinema Jury Award 2017
