South Africa: Film Review: 'Fanie Fourie's Lobola'

Fanie Fourie's Lobola (Official Trailer)
9 April 2013

Fanie Fourie's Lobola is directed by Henk Pretorius and stars Eduan van Jaarsveldt and Zethu Dlomo.

"Fanie Fourie's Lobola" is a romantic comedy screened at the 2013 Pan African Film Festival. The film is set in South Africa where a white South African man, Fanie, falls in love with a Zulu woman, Dinky. The main plot of the movie centers on Fanie paying for Dinky's labola, or bride price. The movie also deals with numerous other social issues, including race and tradition in the new South Africa.

When Fanie and Dinky plan a date, Fanie has to drive to one of the Zulu townships where he confronts the racial segregation that still exists in South Africa. While Fanie begins to learn and understand Zulu culture through Dinky, he is confronted by the persistence of the old South Africa through his mother. His mother believes that Europeans brought civilization to South Africa and are superior to the Africans. Fanie challenges his mother's views on race relations by dating Dinky, and trying to overcome the racial divisions that have plagued the country.

For her part, Dinky initially accepted Fanie's date as a joke, while Dinky's father accepts a lobola for her from a wealthy Zulu man. When Dinky, a business administration graduate, later decides to get serious with Fanie she refuses the arranged marriage and makes plans to marry Fanie. She later rejects her own Zulu cultural practices by refusing a lobola.

"Fanie Fourie's Lobola" shows young South Africans challenging traditional views on race and marriage while still trying to maintain their cultural roots. It is a great film about racial views and racial unification in the new South Africa.

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