"Themba" tells a story about HIV and football in South Africa. The film is simple, but still worth seeing - also because former national goalkeeper Jens Lehmann makes his debut as an actor.
When you hear the basic idea for "Themba", you already know where you stand: a poor boy in South Africa plays good football in the dust of his small village until he is discovered by a coach for the national team and becomes a hero.
What was a complex description of the state of South Africa in Lutz van Dijk's novel "Themba - The Game of His Life" is reduced to its basic building blocks for the cinema. The fact that the boy's mother is HIV-positive and dies as a result of AIDS becomes secondary. Filmmaker Stefanie Sycholt stages the topic of HIV in South Africa primarily as a threat to her young hero's sporting happiness.
And yes, the South African director ends up in cinematic Lego land: all the characters and the plot are absolutely predictable and the screenplay works according to the simple mechanics of American Hollywood sports films: a man - in this case a boy - wants to get to the top without losing his passion or having to sell his talent. With the help of a sporty surrogate father - played here by the German ex-national goalkeeper Jens Lehmann - the hero's endeavour succeeds and a stadium cheers at the end.
But no, that doesn't make "Themba" a bad film. The South African-German co-production may not rise above the level of a mediocre TV film, but the actors more than make up for any technical shortcomings.
Whether Simphiwe Dana as mother Mandisa, who tests positive after a rape, or Patrick Mofokeng as Themba's evil uncle Luthando - they perform small acting miracles within the narrow confines of their roles, are human, touching and comprehensible where the script remains formulaic.
Jens Lehmann also cuts a surprisingly good figure as trainer John Jacobs. Acting with children in front of the camera is not easy - Lehmann succeeds brilliantly. This may also be due to the fact that the two young actors, who portray Themba as a younger and slightly older boy, display unbridled enthusiasm - both for their roles and for football. Watching them is a feast, and perhaps that is why the film has already won several awards.
Another reason for Themba's enthusiasm is that he is making a significant contribution to removing the taboo surrounding HIV/AIDS in South Africa.
The German release date for "Themba" has been chosen wisely: South Africa is still on everyone's mind because of the World Cup. The film and its distributor are taking advantage of this to tell a completely different, but no less beautiful, football story. This is another advantage of the film: the South Africans are not degraded to a cheerful, noisy backdrop.
And "Themba" has another advantage over the World Cup: the film is completely free of vuvuzelas.
(Paul Schulz)
Themba is showing in German cinemas from today
Website of the film with excerpts
