FRIENDS

Johannesburg in the 1980s. A city in the grip of a huge historical shift. A modern Africa where people, pushed to their limits, are full of possibility and surprise. Indeed, this South African film is more concerned with personal relationships than politics, albeit relationships transforms by political shift. The drama focuses on three women: Aninka, an Afrikaans archaeologist; Thorko, a black teacher; and Sophie, an English librarian. Their friendship thrives in the protective cocoon of the university community, and survives at the house they share after graduation. But the inevitable changes in their lives lead them down separate paths, and to the realization that they know little about one another. Not until they confront the ambiguities of their own personal and political situations can these three women come to find identities outside of the influences and choices that have shaped them, and forge a new, more profound friendship. -Kit Kalfs. In English, and Zulu and Afrikaans with English subtitles.