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The Furnace
South Africa 2019
produced by Andre Frauenstein snr, Samuel Frauenstein, Pieter Du Plessis (executive), Gloedland Group (executive), Andries Brink (executive), Civilconsult (executive), Lester Din (executive), Riaan De Lange (executive), Arthur Crewe (executive), Werner Pretorius (executive), Elmarie Petorius (executive), Henry Venter (executive), Vanessa Venter (executive), Nadia Scott (executive) for Valhalla Productions, Phoenix Films
directed by Darrell Roodt
starring Jamie Bernadette, Luthuli Dlamini, Laura Linn, Thandi Puren, Armand Aucamp, Craig Gardner, Lena Ferugio, Charlie Bouguenon, Pieter Louw, Justin Strydom, Bonnie Lee Bouman, Kika Smit, Lindiwe Ndlovu, Mari Louise Gouws, Diaan Daniels, Alroy Dixon, Firdous Asmodien, Jan Bruwer, Llewelyn Cordier, Monique Best, Anastasia Ferrara
written by Darrell Roodt, music by Alun Richards
review by Mike Haberfelner
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For Christmas, Matt (Armand Aucamp) gives his wife Mary (Jamie
Bernadette) a pair of trainers ... and a ticket to South Africa, where
they're take part in "The Furnace", the toughest race there is,
as it takes its participants through the South African wild in ever
changing weather conditions, with about the length of a marathon between
watering holes. As the two are passionate and well-trained runners, this
shouldn't be too big of a challenge though - but it should never be, as
the two get into a car accident on Christmas Eve, which kills Matt and
gravely injures Mary. At first, Mary, now pretty much tied to an oxygen
tank and hardly able to exercise, is about to give everything up - when
she makes the acquaintance of Coffin (Luthili Dlamini), a gravedigger who
had once been a doctor in South Africa, and he pretty much trains her back
to health, gets her through some exercise, helps her breathe without her
oxygen tank - and eventually even encourages her to take part in a race
... which almost kills her, and prompts Mary's father (Craig Gardner) to
lie to Coffin that she has actually died and give him a one-way ticket
back to South Africa - which Coffin accepts, fearing legal action. Months
later, Mary, now in better shape than ever, tracks down Coffin and asks
him to train her for the Furnace. Coffin initially refuses but is no match
to Mary's stubbornness, so he trains her, not so much physically but
mentally. The first few days go reasonable well, with Mary even finding
a running partner in Raphaella (Laura Linn), but eventually the scorching
heat, pouring rain, a (non-lethal) scorpion sting, and several animal
attacks sure take their toll on Mary, so much so that she's eventually
considered missing - and the race promoters are unable to find her ... The
Furnace is quite simply a powerful film - and even if you're (like me)
not really into running: Now of course, the film is highly metaphorical,
but it works because the metaphors are not hammered home and don't stand
in the way of compelling storytelling, which in turn is carried by
impressive locations, with great camerawork getting the most out of them,
while the directorial effort puts a heavy emphasis on atmosphere. And then
there's of course the amazing central performance by Jamie Bernadette, who
gives her role just the right physicality and emotional depth to make her
utterly palpable, and who's leading a very solid cast. A pretty awesome
movie actually - but be prepared, you're more than likely to shed a tear
or two ...
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