Description
The Harvesters 2018
Die Stropers (original title)
1h 42min | Drama | 13 September 2019 (USA)
Storyline:
South Africa, Free State region, isolated stronghold to the Afrikaans white ethnic minority culture. In this conservative farming territory obsessed with strength and masculinity, Janno is different, secretive, emotionally frail. One day his mother, fiercely religious, brings home Pieter, a hardened street orphan she wants to save, and asks Janno to make this stranger into his brother. The two boys start a fight for power, heritage and parental love.
User review:
We’re talking, of course, about Pieter (Alex Van Dyk), the agitator-come-teenage junkie whom Maria (Juliana Venter) welcomes into her home in a bid to save him from himself. Her husband Jan (Morne Visser), meanwhile, is less than pleased about it (“you had to choose the worst one”) because Pieter is far from easy, with his initial withdrawal crises and his reluctance to be a part of a group who slave away from dawn til dusk, coaxing flocks into henhouses where eggs are actually hatched in incubators, and where wheat-fields tranquilly await the hacking blades of combine harvesters. But this new “brother” is first and foremost a problem for Janno (Brent Vermeulen), head-adolescent of the family (he has three little sisters), who is expected to welcome and to help this disturber of the peace (“open up your heart to him”). Janno grudgingly lets Pieter tag along as he gets about his life (splashing about in the lake, attending prayer groups, playing rugby with friends etc.), then watches with interest as Pieter, feeling trapped, changes tack and reveals himself to be more than comfortable milling amongst the night-life of a small, nearby town. Little by little, Janno (who has been plagued by homosexual desires for some time now) will see their roles reverse. Despite his best efforts to be a good son and to fulfil his family’s expectations, and in spite of Pieter’s many escapades, Pieter will ultimately be the one to win Janno’s parents’ affections, with spilled secrets and jealousy only worsening the situation…
Director: Etienne Kallos
Writer: Etienne Kallos
Stars: Brent Vermeulen, Alex van Dyk, Juliana Venter
Country: South Africa | France | Greece | Poland
Language: Afrikaans | English
Release Date: 13 September 2019 (USA)
Also Known As: The Harvesters
Filming Locations: Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa
Ronald Gaskin (verified owner) –
Good film