A Million Colours is both a love story and a look at the last years of apartheid. It all begins with Soweto in 1986 and a young man is being beaten by three white police officers. He manages to escape by running through some fields. Ten years earlier, as a little boy, he became famous as a child actor for the film E-Lollipop, which he and a white kid are friends on screen and also developed a good relationship in real life. Muntu and Norman Knox are the famous pair, and circumstances change everything forever.
Muntu arrives at school in a car, bought with money earned as an actor, and as he gets out, his classmates flock around him. He spots a beautiful girl, Sabela, and it is love at first site for both of them. A major obstacle is her father who arranges a marriage to an old Zulu chief with many wives.
They attend a rally supporting Nelson Mandela, and gunfire erupts, and Sabela is shot and wounded. Muntu carries her to a hospital but war breaks out and his old friend Norman is drafted into the army and forced to fight against the black majority. Muntu becomes a reluctant soldier with the Cuban backed communists. He runs away from the militia after a bloody battle and Sabela hears that he was killed. After her father loses his job, she agrees to marry the chief.
Muntu becomes a car thief, working for a criminal group which fight both the apartheid government and each other. The love of his life, meanwhile has displeased the chief, because she is unable to bear children. She is demoted to servant and Muntu tries to win her back, more than once. Four years later, his life has disintegrated and Mandela is finally released from jail and this leads to an interesting ending. A Million Colours has good intentions, but the story is too unstructured for my taste. I will praise the excellent cast, however, for gritty, realistic portrays, most especially Wandile Molebatsi as Muntu and Masello Motano as Sabela. They are tremendous. Another complaint is the soundtrack, which drowns out the dialogue repeatedly. Even with the criticisms, the movie is worth a watch.
Muntu arrives at school in a car, bought with money earned as an actor, and as he gets out, his classmates flock around him. He spots a beautiful girl, Sabela, and it is love at first site for both of them. A major obstacle is her father who arranges a marriage to an old Zulu chief with many wives.
They attend a rally supporting Nelson Mandela, and gunfire erupts, and Sabela is shot and wounded. Muntu carries her to a hospital but war breaks out and his old friend Norman is drafted into the army and forced to fight against the black majority. Muntu becomes a reluctant soldier with the Cuban backed communists. He runs away from the militia after a bloody battle and Sabela hears that he was killed. After her father loses his job, she agrees to marry the chief.
Muntu becomes a car thief, working for a criminal group which fight both the apartheid government and each other. The love of his life, meanwhile has displeased the chief, because she is unable to bear children. She is demoted to servant and Muntu tries to win her back, more than once. Four years later, his life has disintegrated and Mandela is finally released from jail and this leads to an interesting ending. A Million Colours has good intentions, but the story is too unstructured for my taste. I will praise the excellent cast, however, for gritty, realistic portrays, most especially Wandile Molebatsi as Muntu and Masello Motano as Sabela. They are tremendous. Another complaint is the soundtrack, which drowns out the dialogue repeatedly. Even with the criticisms, the movie is worth a watch.
