Shirley Adams

"This intense social-realist drama, set in Cape Town, follows a mother as she struggles to rehabilitate her son, a victim of gun violence. Set in Mitchell's Plain - one of Cape Town's slums - this intense and spectacular social-realist drama follows a mother, Shirley Adams, as she struggles to rehabilitate her son Donovan, a victim of gun violence that left him paralysed from the neck down. Her husband has abandoned her, leading her to give up w... more

"This intense social-realist drama, set in Cape Town, follows a mother as she struggles to rehabilitate her son, a victim of gun violence. Set in Mitchell's Plain - one of Cape Town's slums - this intense and spectacular social-realist drama follows a mother, Shirley Adams, as she struggles to rehabilitate her son Donovan, a victim of gun violence that left him paralysed from the neck down. Her husband has abandoned her, leading her to give up work and spend all her time caring for her son. With no income to support them, she is resigned to surviving on handouts from her neighbours, and occasionally by shoplifting. The power of this narrative lies in the choices, style and characterisation the debutant director Oliver Hermanus deploys in crafting the story. The emphasis is on the use of a hand-held camera, which is kept very close to the face or behind the head of Shirley (excellently played by Denise Newman). Hermanus allows only momentary glimpses of the environment which Shirley and her son inhabit: a country still trying to come to terms with the challenges of race, class, poverty and crime. This maintains an unbroken intimacy in this insightful, heartwarming and outstanding film." Quoting Keith Shiri less