Five Fingers for Marseilles (2017): The African Western

Five Fingers for Marseilles is a South African film that came out in 2017, directed by Michael Matthews as his debut feature film. Despite being his first full-length film, Five Fingers for Marseilles is a revolutionary piece of African film, as it focuses on the divide of a small town on the brink of losing its community, and the fallen hero that has returned to save them. Prior to shooting the film, Michael Matthews had traveled throughout the farmland of South Africa for inspiration, finding it when passing through a European named town, ‘Marseilles’ (“Production,” 2017). Even though this was just by chance, much of the story revolves around the idea of conquest, which is often related to colonialism in the African context and could be hinted at from the title of the film.

The setting of the film was filmed in a town called Lady Grey, which Matthews had spent an immense amount of time at so that he could truly capture the culture of the community, as well as reflect on his own African upbringing and how he would relate that to the film. Although the development of this film had started in 2009, it took over seven years of funding for Matthews to even be able to afford the expenses to travel back to Lady Grey and begin filming, allowing for the story development to be revised to its most exceptional quality. Ellaya (2018) states this could be attributed to the film’s financial support received by “the National Film and Video Foundation as well as the full DTI rebate for a local film”. Much of this film was also a community-led project, as Matthews aimed to include members of the community in the filmmaking process, as well as including them in the lead cast.

The endurance of the filmmaking crew is essentially what led this film to completion, as they faced unpredictable weather and challenging circumstances, as producer Asger Hussain states, “Here we would base camp for three days and shoot some of the pivotal scenes in the film against the majestic nature. No water, no electricity, no cell phone reception and pushing a 2,000-meter altitude,” (“Production,” 2017). Following this experience, the crew also had difficulties in even achieving access to the location because of the weather, and had to stop several times to ensure safety.

Regardless of the difficulties faced by the production crew, whether it was the acts of nature and weather working against them, or the lack of funding putting the production on pause, Five Fingers for Marseilles is a captivating work of art that highlights the connection of African culture to brotherhood, redemption, and the balance between good and evil. However, the distinction between good and evil is not made completely clear, as we see characters develop to the best and worst versions of themselves in response to their environment.

We start the film with a closely bonded friend group of children, and as the film progresses we watch these children transform into alternative versions of themselves, for adulthood. Tau, once free-spirited is now bound to the murder of two cops, and flees for his own safety, despite the act being one of defense to save Lerato from kidnapping. Due to his absence, the relationship between Tau and Lerato becomes strained to non-existent, as her relationship with Bongani, their childhood friend turned mayor, grows. Unathi becomes the religious storyteller he was destined to be, while Luyanda resorts to a life of police employment, and Zulu meets his death before Tau has even come back to town. This film highlights contrasting social positions, and demonstrates the relationships between these characters when being confronted with a collective threat. Each character is able to demonstrate their best attributes for the sake of the community, as well as display the darker parts of their humanistic nature in conflicting ways, such as Luyanda’s corrupt authority and Unathi’s battle with his own ability of brutality. This internal struggle that is found within every single character could serve as one of the main themes in this film, as we watch the human condition fluctuate under external pressures, and develop from adolescence to adulthood.

While Five Fingers for Marseilles is often described as a drama film, I believe this film is one of the best depictions of a western that we have had in the past 10 years, and it is almost exhilarating to see it from a non-western point of view. Traditional westerns started in American films, and we were able to see this influence on this African film throughout common western genre elements, such as a shoot-out, a forgotten hero, and battle with the law. Michael Matthews has done an exemplary job of providing this specific genre to an African audience and boosting the South African industry with such an amazing film.

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References

(2017) Five Fingers for Marseilles: Production notes. Indigenous Film Distribution. Retrieved from https://indigenousfilm.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Production-Notes-Five-Fingers-for-Marseilles-091117-2.pdf

Ellaya, C. (2018). An African western, Five Fingers for Marseilles, thrills audiences globally. ScreenAfrica. Retrieved from https://www.screenafrica.com/2018/03/15/film/an-african-western-five-fingers-for-marseilles-thrills-audiences-globally/

Hussain, A. (Producer), & Matthews, M. (Director). (2017). Five Fingers for Marseilles [Motion Picture]. Africa: Be Phat Motel Film Company.