Beat the Drum (2003)

This film follows a young orphan boy, Musa, and his pursuit of happiness in modern day South Africa. The gripping reality is that he is growing up in one of the worst aids epidemics in the history of the world. His moral upbringing and desire for a good life for his family take him to Johannesburg, were it only seems to look darker for the young hero. Musa overcomes what seem like impossible odds to find a better life for himself. This is really an uplifting story for South Africans, in a time that is historically one of the worst for the young people of this country.

The most important issue in this movie is how HIV/aids are affecting their society. According to the South African National HIV Survey, it is estimated that over 340,000 people died of aids in 2006. This country has more people infected with the HIV virus than anywhere else in the world. This is depicted in the film with the sickness and deaths of many young people in the movie. The main problem that I saw in the movie with the epidemic is that most people infected with the disease are sexually active members of society. This means they are the main wage earners for their family in most cases. When they die, it leaves many children orphaned and lost in the poverty stricken country. Many of these children run the risk of having the HIV virus from their parents or contracting it on the streets of the city. This disease has really devastated this country. That is shown in the film by the death of people all the way out in the tribal areas of South Africa.

Another thing that is evident in the film is that the people did not want to accept this disease as the likely killer of so many. The healers and tribal leaders in the movie believe in different types of healing than that of modern medicine. Their society is living in belief of many farces about the disease and how it is treated. The fact that the movie says some people believe they can cure the disease by sleeping with a virgin is shocking. That would defiantly cause an even worse out come for the young women of the country. It also seems that in the poverty stricken areas rape, and crime is more prevalent. An interesting fact I found while researching this film is that many of the infected people of South Africa are treated at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospitol, which is the largest hospital in the world.

There is so much tragedy in this film that it is hard to get away from, but I would like to talk about the landscape of the region. Much of the areas where Musa came from are shown as golden grassy areas where many of the people live of the land. We did not see much of this part of South Africa in the film Tsotsi. The city of Johannesburg looks like a more typical city in this film, where as in the other South African movie Tsotsi, it was shown as a darker place. We do see much of the same type of poverty stricken young gangs in the city areas though. There are so many poor and orphaned people that the government can not provide enough money to house or feed them all. We do see a much more prevalent role of the white man in this film, as the father of the young white lawyer deals with his own son’s death from aids. It still appears that they are a more honored person in the area, and own businesses or hold important roles in the city.

This is a very uplifting movie towords the end as we see a society come to grips with a disease that is taking over their country. They have finally come to accept that if nothing changes, they may all die from HIV/AIDS. We also see Musa find a home of his own, which shows the resilience of the South African society, and that if they find the honorable path, they shall be rewarded.