Shooting a South African film about forgiveness

The film director, Jerome Salle visited the United International Pictures offices in Sandton to discuss the making of the movie.

Salle explained, “It’s a thriller. But besides that, the movie talks about forgiveness. How difficult, but how important it is to be able to forgive. This is universal, but of course South Africa is the place to talk about that.”

The movie, which will be released in South African on 10 October, originates from the 2008 crime novel, Zulu by Caryl Ferey.

“If you read the book you will get the back stories of the characters,” said Salle.

The movie was initially named Zulu, but was later changed to City of Violence. Salle explained, “We kept the title of Zulu for most of the countries. “But perhaps that was a little bit weird for the South African audience to name a movie Zulu when it takes place in Cape Town, even if Forest Whitaker’s character in the movie is definitely Zulu.”

Whitaker acts as the chief of the Cape Town police’s homicide division, alongside Orlando Bloom, who plays the character of detective Brian Epkeen. The two, are the only non-South African actors in the film.

Salle said he wanted to be able to make a South African movie, with South African actors and crew, except for the two leads.

In the film, the two leads and another police officer investigate the brutal murder of a young white woman. The investigation leads them to unravel the use of a dangerous drug that is manufactured for genocidal purposes.

Salle said the moral of the story was to encourage forgiveness. “I’ve tried to keep it simple and realistic,” he added. “I stayed as close as possible to the actors and have no stylised violence like in the Hollywood movies. What happened in this one looks real.

“I really enjoyed shooting here. Great actors, great crew. And now I feel a little bit at home.”