Local film Inxeba (The Wound) has been slapped with an X18 rating by the Appeal Tribunal of the South Africa Film and Publication Board.
This means the film has been banned from being screened in cinemas or any other platform that is not designated as adult-only premises, as defined by the Film and Publications Act no 96 of 1996, as amended.
According to a statement by the board, the chairperson of the Appeals Tribunal along with tribunal members agreed to hear the appeal based on applications lodged by Contralesa Gauteng and The Men and Boy Foundation.
The complaints were largely based on the perceived cultural insensitivity and distortion of the Xhosa circumcision tradition.
WATCH TRAILER HERE:
The gay-themed film explores homosexuality and homophobia in Xhosa culture while using traditional circumcision as a backdrop. The film is about Xolani, a lonely factory worker who travels to the rural mountains with the men of his community to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood.
Xolani is tasked with taking care of initiate Kwanda, who has grown up in Johannesburg and his father is unhappy with his feminine traits. His father wants Kwanda to toughen up and learn more about the Xhosa culture and what it takes to be a man.
Xolani, though, does not go to the rural mountains just to take care of teenage boys. He is in love with another caretaker and family man, Vija. Xolani has to find the strength to accept himself as a gay man while being part of a culture that is largely homophobic.
However, throughout their time together, both characters make it abundantly clear that there is no emotional attachment to the relationship, it is only physical.
The film takes great care in showing details of Xhosa circumcision in its authenticity and what happens when boys become men. It is clear that director John Trengrove expected a backlash from the Eastern Cape when working on the screenplay with the writers.
The film also touches on the notion that if a boy is feminine, then only by going to the mountain, will the boy become manly.
The struggles the masculine Vija has of admitting his feelings are striking and how he uses alcohol as a way to mask his feelings and doubts. Not once in the film is the word gay mentioned, which is a great statement to show that in that culture, even when having sex with another man, being gay does not exist, it is not acknowledged.
As a Xhosa man, born and raised in the Eastern Cape, the movie touches on a culture I’m wholly familiar with. When I heard about the movie being released and the threats of protests and violence that followed, I was not surprised.
One has to understand that as a boy, going to the mountain is a momentous occasion. The traditional rite not only involves your family but the community as a whole. For a family’s son to take part in the rite and survive brings respect to the family.
It is one of the holiest rites of passages, so holy, that even initiate deaths – which can go up to more than 50 a season – are disregarded. In the Eastern Cape, if you do not go to the mountain, your peers and community will shun and ostracise you.
