MartinHafer Although this was the official submission for the Best Foreign Language Oscar from South Africa, it has a relatively low score--under 6.0. Don't believe it--it's a fabulous film! The film is a buddy film--with two guys traveling a huge distance (Durban to Cape Town--about 1000 miles more or less). Unfortunately for poor Elvis who is PLANNING on getting married when he arrives, things keep happening--and this long drive becomes HUGE--and it looks as if they're never going to make it in time for the wedding.The film has many poignant moments and is probably not what you might consider a comedy. However, it has some very funny portions, a lot of romance and a lot of heart. The leading man is quite likable--very, very likable--which makes this film a lot more enjoyable. You really care about him--as well as his traveling companions.I sure wished I'd watched this film a few weeks ago! That's because I just got back from a trip to South Africa and I would have loved to have seen all the sites and culture before I arrived in the cities portrayed in the film (Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town). Of course, on the other hand, had I hadn't first visited this wonderful country, I might not have understood some of the film due to its cultural references. I am NO expert, but here are a few observations if you do see this lovely film and are NOT familiar with South Africa when you see in the white supremacist portion of the film: When Elvis and his friends enter the white supremacist bar full of Afrikaners (whites of Dutch descent), they are watching rugby--which, in South Africa, is considered the white sport.You'll hear these folks in the bar use the word 'kaffirs'. You DON'T use that word in South Africa--it's like the N-word in the USA and it can even get you arrested in South Africa for hate speech.'She's English'--despite over a hundred years since the last Boer War, there is a tiny bit of animosity between SOME Afrikaners and the English (who won the war in a very brutal fashion).Koos de la Ray was a heroic general from the second Boer War (1899-1902) and the song is considered by SOME to be provocative and anti-black--sort of like singing 'Dixie' in the USA.One thing that might take many in the audience by surprise is hearing the black South Africans. Throughout the film, they speak English and Afrikaans and the Xhosa languages--all within the same sentences at times or switching from one sentence to the next. I didn't hear a lot of this when I visited, but I was there for business--where the language is almost exclusively English. Many Bollywood movies also have people switch from Hindi to English as they speak--something that will surely surprise many Westerners. Curious.Overall, a wonderfully fun film--just the sort of thing that does NOT win Oscars--but the sort of thing that could make a great date film. Well worth seeing and very endearing.

Boris Gorelik I think that this film is purely South African entertainment and it is brilliant as such. Foreigners with no interest in that country won't be able to understand why it caused such a stir in the RSA and won so many fans.White Wedding is important not only because it shows a positive side of the 'SA experience'. After watching it, you will understand what unites all South Africans irrespective of their skin colour or cultural background.It is a film about what it's like to be South African. And it's a valuable contribution in the country that is still strongly divided along racial and ethnic lines. Once people realise the common denominator,. they might be able to understand each other better - and, eventually, make the Rainbow Nation ideal more sensible.

JeffersonCody WHITE WEDDING with Kenneth Nkosi, Rapulana Seiphemo, Jodie Whittaker, Zandile Msutwana and Marcel van Heerden, directed by Jann Turner. Cinema-goers looking for a funny, big-hearted comedy with characters one can relate to, will enjoy Jann Turner's rather delightful South African film. A road trip movie made on a budget of R6 million, it tells the story of the down-to-earth Elvis (Kenneth Nkosi) who is about to be married. He catches a bus from Johannesburg to Durban where he meets up with his best man, Tumi ("Jerusalema" star, Rapulana Seiphemo). From here the two guys must travel to Cape Town where the lovely Ayunda (Zandile Msutwana) is anxiously awaiting their arrival. Of course nothing goes right on the long journey and when the boys get lost in the Eastern Cape and reluctantly allow British visitor Rose (Jodie Whittaker, who starred opposite Peter 'O Toole in "Venus") to join them, it seems as if their problems can only get worse. Can they make it to the wedding on time? With a splendid leading man turn from the lovable, hilarious Nkosi (he played the cooked lawyer in "Jerusalema"), a warm and winning script (by Seiphemo, Turner and Nkosi) and plenty of romance to go with the laughs, this feel-good comedy hits the spot. "White Wedding" is a sweet, witty film that shows there is a place for everyone in South Africa. Even the old-school Afrikaners have hearts of gold. MY RATING: 6 out of 10.

Trevor Moses I had the honour of viewing this film on the opening night of the Cape Winelands Film Festival last week. I really didn't know what to expect from it, but I had the idea that it might perhaps be a South African version of Stanley Kramer's "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" which was banned by the apartheid government, as were many of Sidney Poitier's films. Boy, did I get a wrong number and I'm supposed to be some sort of South African film expert! Jann Turner's film concerns the trials and tribulations of a man trying his best against all odds to make it on time to his white wedding in Cape Town. If this sounds to you like it is yet another depiction of the well worn idea of the road movie, it isn't that at all. It is funny, touching, dramatic and it is in fact the story of all South Africans and our uncanny ability to break down barriers imposed by a blinkered government in the past and to form friendships, even to the point of getting blind drunk in a "whites only" bar and drunkenly singing along to Bok van Blerk's "De La Rey".Jann Turner ~ take a deep bow, you, your cast and crew: I have always wished for a South African film that explores the positivity of the here and now and depicts it in an appealing way and that film has finally arrived. I actually felt proud to be a South African after seeing this film and that has never happened to me before.