Showing @ Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Sun 27 Oct only @ 15:20

Phil Harrison / UK/South Africa/Ireland / 2012 / 75 mins

Although some of the banking sector’s morality has been brought into question recently, Phil Harrison’s warm-hearted but disconcerting drama depicts a banker who (“shock horror”) has a conscience.

When Irish banker Michael (Aidan Gillen) accidently causes somebody’s death, it begins to affect him both at work and home. Sifiso (Thabang Sidloyi) is a teenager from a South African township who dreams of escaping poverty but in reality is facing possible eviction by the government.

This film has many comparisons. Michael’s comfortable Western lifestyle is juxtaposed against the impoverished existence of the township. His tortured self-pity is also contrasted against Sifiso’s upbeat and smiling can-do attitude, pleasingly reflected in Ireland’s grey drizzle versus the African sunshine’s bright warmth. Despite these differences though, Harrison also points out similarities. One scene parallels the uprooting of residents in a run-down area of Belfast’s sectarian violence with the protested demolition of shacks in Cape Town.

Although Sifiso aspires for a better life, Harrison shows that even developed nations still have poverty and inequality. In time, Michael assuages his guilt (and therefore his mood) through charitable donations to Sifiso, whereas Sifiso is powerless to improve his struggle against repression. A tender but unsettling depiction of how, even though nations and cultures may differ, the way wealth and power feeds into the structure of society remains constant.

Showing as part of Africa in Motion 2013

Follow Callum on Twitter @CWMadge