SIFF Lords

O and I managed our first Seattle Internation Film Festival showing last night. We saw Carmen in Khayelitsha, a South African adaption of the culture-clashing tragic opera Carmen. The film was shot entirely in the Xhosa language, complete with all the popping and clicking sounds you might think incongruous with opera, and it was beautiful. Occasionally modernizations suck (see West Side Story) but I loved this take on Carmen. Gypsy culture was transformed into township culture with some gang-related thuggery, dive-bar dancehalls and South African street life. The neighborhood of Khayelitsha shines as a major and welcome character in this retelling. Opera purists will cringe at some of the liberties taken with the libretto and the way street sounds and African rhythms are periodically injected into the score. It was exactly what was needed, however, in order to reach me. I'm still not interested in buying a season ticket to the Seattle Opera, but this was pretty outstanding.



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