Soldiers of the Rock

South Africa's prosperity runs in veins deep within the earth, in the diamond deposits and gold seams left as though by the gods as a dual blessing and curse. SOLDIERS OF THE ROCK is a dynamic, blockbuster drama of the proud men who work the mines. Laborers from Botswana, Mozambique, Swaziland and the Transvaal. Here, miles underground, the dim light levels out skin tones and tribal affiliations; township roughnecks with Tupac Shakur tattoos work next to Boers working next to Zulus. Still, Vuyo is an exception. He is a business student whose miner-father died in a rockfall so his son never would. Nonetheless, Vuyo has forsaken school to descend to this netherworld. “Here people accept you for what you are. Here they force you to be yourself.” Vuyo is approached by miner Suto with an audacious proposal: gold here is almost tapped out. Soon the pit will close. But if all the men pool their redundancy pay, they can buy their own mine, take destiny in their own calloused hands. But Suto is also an ex-con. And the dangerous, spirit-haunted tunnels have claimed many lives. Can either be trusted? (In English and Afrikaans with English subtitles)