U-Carmen Ekhayelitsha

Mark Dornford-May’s vibrant reworking of Bizet’s opera, transplanted from the South African stage, may not sound like sangria in the park, but even devout philistines are sure to be swayed. Relocating the action to the Capetown township of Khayelitsha proves a masterstroke, with each frame bustling and humming with rainbow shantytown spectacle.
The documentary shooting style equally reanimates what, let’s face it, is a fairly musty cultural artefact. Having sucked you in with a drug-smuggling plot, hell, even the singing seems great. Best of all though, is Pauline Malefane’s doomed, though kick-arse heroine, who never simpers when she can play men for all they’re worth. To be filed with What’s Opera, Doc? as one of the great filmed operas. So far as I know.