THE PRESIDENT’S PATIENT – A REFLECTION II

I  know you have been wondering why it took me this long to update you; well this is what I remember since memory is weapon. I am unleashing it right now

DAY TWO: JULY 31 - First day of filming stars with music and dance. Now you know if there’s one thing that us Afrikans have as an advantage over everybody else it’s our ability to sing and dance over anything. We don’t need a beat since we got music in our DNA. Every single Afrikan you see infront of you can sing and dance; they may just be shy but tell them the key to their emancipation lies in them impressing a jury with their dance moves I swear to you everybody can do that and leave whites incarcerated. The late Busi Mhlongo once said, paraphrased by culture writer Bongani Madondo; “we were in church before we went to church”. I love that. We are born in worship and we worship with our body and voices!

So, this day starts with King Shaft, Mikhail and Sibusiso leading in song and dance outside our peach operations nerve centre in the heart of Newtown. The building stands proud like a penis on Viagra. There is singing and dancing as the technical crew is assembling equipment which we will need for the shoot. Apparently we will be shooting our first scene barely hundred metres away from here. The scene is the one when our radical young minister gets shot - not potshots but automaticed. I shudder to notice that I have made love on that street a million times; busted a million nuts but I hardly remember its name. I hope it is Henry Nxumalo Street. I loved Nxumalo so I hope this is his street. You know it, that one way main artery of Newtown that passes past Mary Fitzgerald Square.

The first scene we shoot involves the attempted assassination on a young radical minister who wants to change the way government has been doing things for the past eighteen years. The scene is about the actual shooting with an Uzi automatic and the bodyguards getting into the action. Our bodyguards are reaaaal huge.

The assassination attempt goes through without hiccups and our two heavies are real pros; in dark suits and pistols. Our minister is suave, played by Momelezi Ntshiba. The scene is wrapped as soon as it started and then we move to the assassins. On set we have some of the people whose call-up will be in about two hours such as Napo Masheane, Paul Mzaca and Thabo Monareng who will have to change into wardrobe soon and become the team investigating the crime.

First our assassins are having a field day with the 1973 Valiant that they chose for the hit. It’s surprising why these two hitmen, played by Mofenyi Malepe (Calvin) and Motlatsi Mahloko (Alexander) chose a vintage to take out a freshly minted politician. We take our time to shoot the scenes that involve Monde (Prince Twala) when he was going about his hoboic ways of writing people’s numberplates and being a nuisance.

It’s a logistical challenge for the crew members responsible for art and continuity as every little detail should be repeated over the five days that we will be shooting.

On the day we actually shoot too many scenes that when we finally audit them at the base camp we find that we managed to can nineteen, including the on-location investigation, interviews with eyewitnesses, parts of Monde’s life on the street and a scene that involves a confrontation with streetkids by first the assassins and then cop Lukas.

At the end of day one we all can say we have had a good start. As those who have made films before will tell you; the first and last day are always the most challenging. We await day two with anticipation.

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