Best of 2019: The Story of Racheltjie de Beer

 

Dir. Matthys Boshoff

Adventure/Drama/Period || 1h45m || PG13

 

South African wilderness 1800's. Five years after their mother died, Rachel, a girl on the cusp of adolescence and 5-year-old Jamie find themselves on their way to the virgin gold fields with their father, Herman, as he tries to start a new life. When Jamie goes missing in a freak snow blizzard, Rachel braves the storm to look for her little brother.

 

Filmmaker Matthys Boschoff said it best in his Directors Statement. 

"It is a great responsibility and honour to adapt the beloved folk tale of Racheltjie de Beer for the big screen. This story is cherished by many South Africans across different cultures and had a great impact on me as a child. The arresting image of a young girl lost in a snowstorm at night, with a defenceless child in her arms, who then makes the ultimate sacrifice out of love, captured my imagination, inspiring in me both fear and admiration. It is from this personal connection to the story that I set about making a film that ebbs and flows between ominous danger, courage and love"