Comments on: Shot Down

By: mona

mona — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:22:35 +0000

there is a fresh copy at the new cape town library opposite the grand parade

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By: Roger Young

Roger Young — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:57:55 +0000

I think Shotdown is much truer about the inefficiency of the white liberal protest mentality that Roodt inhabits in The Stick (Jobman is a whole different kettle of fish) than it means to be.

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By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:43:25 +0000

Roger, nice piece but I disagree with you in parts. The mythology of this film has a way of preceding it. I had to do a feature on SA films two years ago, for Empire, of the now defunct Maverick family. This movie kept coming up. Director Tim Greene told me it was inspirational: “it made it possible to imagine what I wanted to do”. In his book, Encountering Modernity, Durban-based film theorist Keyan Tomaselli lauds the film for its “nihilistic fury”. After my article appeared Andrew Worsdale phoned, offering to lend me his VHS copy. What struck me, aside from seeing a young Matthew Krouse, was how rambling the whole thing was, precocious too. On one level it is a document of the neo-dada tomfoolery then popular in left-leaning arty circles, particularly the cabaret. I suppose this is why Ivor said what he said back then, having been a part of that nihilistic but joyous experimental scene. But seeing it in 2007, and having peripherally encountered some of the scene it described two decades before, the movie felt stuck. It was like an inexplicable fragment from a bygone era. Maybe if I watch it in 2017, I’ll feel different. This is just how I felt seeing it the first time, in 2007. Disappointed. Another thing. You write: “Shot Down is the truest of white protest films.” What about Darrell Roodt’s early films, chiefly The Stick but also Jobman?

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By: Roger Young

Roger Young — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:13:42 +0000

I think Worsdale is struggling with this with them. Maybe a phone call or two to mnet from the concerned public will help.

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By: djf

djf — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:35:05 +0000

Still, there doesn’t seem to be much reason why MNet shouldn’t allow a DVD release then. BBC do it all the time for their programming and probably turn a tidy profit from it as well.

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By: Rod

Rod — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:06:14 +0000

I remember it well – a great film and at the time absolutely outrageously daring in its political message. Director Andrew Worsdale was a classmate of mine at school and at Wits at the time he shot this – he’s still around and you can find him on Facebook.

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By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 07:36:30 +0000

M-Net’s Africa channel occassionally show it – but since there’s no programme listing for those channels you have to sit through the Nollywood dross to hope to catch it

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By: djf

djf — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 07:29:50 +0000

Does this mean that Mnet would broadcast it in the near future?

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By: Roger Young

Roger Young — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 07:27:35 +0000

Kids, pay attention. Read the last para, mnet have the rights so it won’t be released any time soon but if you email the filmmaker he’ll ship you a copy for a small fee.

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By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 07:00:10 +0000

how can i get my hands on this? Interested to see it..

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