“Dis Ek, Anna”
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| Izel Bezuidenhout (as Anna), Nicola Hanekom, and Morne Visser in Sara Blecher's "Dis Ek, Anna" |
Dis Ek, Anna opened throughout South Africa
on Friday 23 October 2015, with one of the most anticipated releases ever for a
South African film, mostly due to the popularity of the two books from which
it’s adapted – Anchien Troskie’s Dis Ek, Anna (“It’s Me, Anna”) and Die
Staat Teen Anna Bruwer (“The State vs Anna Bruwer”). The essential subject
of the film is known to most people, whether or not they’ve read the book:
Anna, as a 12-year-old girl, is repeatedly raped by her paedophile stepfather.
The event that triggers the telling of her story is nearly as well known: Anna,
as a 30-year-old woman, arrives at her stepfather’s house one evening, and when
he answers the door she shoots and kills him. These are the two crucial facts
of the film. Based on the anticipation among South African audiences for its
release, stoked by the film’s screenings at the Durban International Film
Festival in July and the Silwerskermfees in August (where it won Best Feature Film, Best Director, and Best Actor for Morné Visser) and the film’s
overwhelmingly positive receptions there, most people have decided that it’s precisely what they’d like to go see.
Dis Ek, Anna is directed by Sara Blecher, who
also directed Ayanda, which opened three weeks ago, and Otelo
Burning, released in 2011. With Dis Ek, Anna she takes a clear
stance of condemning child rape, but shows no perspective or even interest in
the characters of her story. In any of the scenes where the stepfather, Danie
(played by Morné Visser), molests or rapes Anna (Izel Bezuidenhout), Blecher’s
camera tactfully moves into a position where nothing distasteful is shown,
while still efficiently conveying all the necessary information. An obvious
reason for this is that it would be illegal to show much more of Bezuidenhout –
who is still a child – but Blecher has personal reasons as well. We can’t stand
to see an adult man raping a young girl, and Blecher can hardly stomach the
thought. She leads up to each instance of molestation bearing the notion that
if we actually saw it, we would be repulsed, and probably even psychologically
damaged in some way. Her images successfully convey, mostly pre-emptively, the
horror she feels when she contemplates Danie’s actions. The outcry that broke
out when Dis Ek, Anna was given the age restriction of 18 (SVLN) by the
Film and Publication Board – for apparently containing images that may be
considered pornographic – was just; there is no visible nudity in the film, and
nothing in here is erotic or rousing. It’s the furthest
from pornography any sex could be.