Movieo
Poster for U-Carmen eKhayelitsha

U-Carmen eKhayelitsha

2005 · 2h 2m · N/A Drama, Music, Romance
Directed by Mark Dornford-May

Seen it?

Overview

U-CARMEN is a feature film based on Georges Bizet's 19th-century opera that was filmed on location in a modern South African township setting. The energy, compassion, and heat of township life in all its elements create a constantly visually interesting and dynamic background for the unfolding of the story, which owes part of its huge popularity to the thrilling combination of a violent gangster tale with a passionate, almost supernatural love story. As it unfolds, it explores issues of fame and wealth, the position of a strong and independently minded woman in a very masculine society and, perhaps most importantly, the incomprehensible attraction between abuser and victim. Bizet's opera, based on Prosper Merimée's novel, premiered in Paris on March 3, 1875. Set in a poor area of Seville, the story of the magnetic woman who seduces, loves, and ultimately destroys her lover and herself...

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
95%
Tomatometer
Fresh

[Director] Dornford-May deftly balances the details of his setting with the universality of his themes, exploring every dusty corner of a village thrumming with tension between patriarchal leaders and strong-willed women.

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
Fresh

No one can know whether Bizet would have approved of the movie musical U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha. But you suspect that he would have admired the filmmakers' gall.

Matt Zoller Seitz, New York Times
Fresh

A vivacious film that is a treat for eyes and ears.

V.A. Musetto, New York Post
Fresh

This was basically the best idea ever.

Julia Wallace, Village Voice
Fresh

Performances and singing are both on the money, and the film's organic, realistic feel seems to have been bolstered by the translation contribution that thesps Malefane and Andiswa Kedama made to the screenplay.

Russell Edwards, Variety

Comments

Talk about the film with other members

More films