Name: Retro Film Review: Dangerous Ground (1997)
Item: Dangerous Ground
Rating: 50
Author: @drax

(source: tmdb.org)

When phrase "guilty pleasure" is mentioned, everyone imagines bad films that were supposed to be bad in entertaining way. When a film maker decides to take more serious approach or deal with some important subjects, bad film usually tends to be bad without any redeeming qualities and without any tiny bit of entertainment for hapless audience. Dangerous Ground, 1997 South African thriller directed by Darrell Roodt, is one of those rare examples of a film where lofty ambitions didn't stand in a way of cheap but effective entertainment.

The basic idea behind this film was to bring some often ignored realities of new, post-Apartheid South Africa to internation-audience. Protagonist is Vusi Madlazi (played by Ice Cube), former anti-Apartheid activist who emigrated from South Africa to USA in his early teens and became totally Americanised after all those years. His father's funeral is a good opportunity to visit his old village and see how his old country changed. Some of those changes weren't for the better, at least according to his older brother Ernest (played by Sechaba Morojele), disgruntled veteran of anti-Apartheid struggle. Ernest tells him about his younger brother Stephen (played by Eric Miyeni) who had left for Johannesburg and lost any contact with the family. Vusi volunteers to find him, but the only result of his quest is Karin (played by Elizabeth Hurley), Stephen's white stripper girlfriend and drug addict. It turns out that Stephen owes money to all-powerful drug lord Muki (played by Ving Rhames) and has limited time to pay it back.

Ice Cube is not particularly convincing as mild-mannered intellectual, and even less convincing as South African. Convenient plot device of "Americanisation" isn't as effective as Darrell Roodt would like - audience would still have problems with the idea of emigrant being so clueless and out of touch with realities of their old country. (The author of this review had some experiences with uninformed Croatian emigrants suffering cultural shock while reuniting with their old country, yet they never resembled aliens from another planet, like Ice Cube in this film does.) Elizabeth Hurley is even less convincing as drug addict. Apart from few local South African actors, the best performance comes from Ving Rhames, who chews scenery as charismatically evil gang lord.

Unfortunate casting choices, however, aren't the worst problems of Dangerous Ground. The biggest problem is in film's schizophrenic approach towards Mandela's South Africa - on one hand, Roodt wants to celebrate triumph of anti-Apartheid struggle and newly found freedoms; on the other hand, he is worried that those freedoms are going to be abused by the vilest elements of South African society and that they might leave South African people worse off than before. Of all the problems that plague societies in socio- political transition - decline of economy, poverty, corruption, political instability etc. - Roodt chose those that could provide for the most exciting and visually attractive plot - rampant crime and tragic increase of drug use. Roodt, therefore, sees how the situation in new South Africa resembles the black American ghettos in 1970s and fears that the same thing could happen in his country – blacks winning political freedom only to succumb to tragic cycle of poverty, drugs, crime and violence. This point is actually spelled out by Ice Cube's character in the film, and even the least experienced viewers become aware that Dangerous Ground might start to resemble to American "blaxploitation" films of 1970s. Roodt combines serious message with "good guys fighting evil drug lords" plot with such clumsiness that film starts to look unintentionally funny. The final showdown scene is good example of that – soccer game on television resembling the gunfight is just one of many surreal but utterly charming elements of this film. Dangerous Ground is perhaps made with little thinking, but a lot of heart and, as such, deserves audience.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on November 6th 2003)