Jagveld

What it's about:

The story centres on Emma le Roux a primary school teacher who is on her way home to the family farm in the Great Karoo.  Along the way she crosses paths with Bosman, the mastermind of a drug syndicate and his henchman.  She witnesses the murder of a policeman at their hands. And they see her seeing them.
They hunt her down but Emma is the daughter of a Recce who has certain set of skills that they did not expect…

What we thought:

It’s only of late that Afrikaans films have been taking steps into the action/thriller genre. A quite recent film about a serial killer, titled Die Ontwaking, comes to mind: Gruesome, scary and compelling at the same time. And now there’s Jagveld, which scores top marks in all these categories.

Set in the Great Karoo, the film tells the story of Emma le Roux (Leandie du Randt Bosch), a primary school teacher who sets out to visit her dad on their farm. Her car breaks down on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, and when she hears gunshots, she investigates only to witnesses a drug syndicate commit a murder. They see her and obviously they have to catch her because she’s a witness.

And here’s where the fun starts. Led by Bosman (Neels van Jaarsveld) the drug syndicate completely, as in COMPLETELY, underestimates Emma. She is a total killing machine provoking images of Lara Croft and Kill Bill.

Leandie is really convincing in her role as Emma. She is fierce and hardcore, but also vulnerable as she struggles to deal with the fact that she has all of these survival skills to take out bad men. And she can totes handle a gun! The fighting scenes are solid and Leandie packs a mean punch.

Neels van Jaarsveld is very badass as Bosman, the drug syndicate mastermind. His constant swearing at his incompetent crew provides quite a few chuckles. 

For some the plot might seem very predictable and the way it gets executed at times feels very Hollywood however, Jagveld manages to get the balance between a truly South African film with Hollywood elements just right.

If you’re into being entertained Kill Bill-style while not focusing too much on the plot, then this film is for you.