The Flowers' Beauty

The Zulu workers in South Africa recite their protest songs and tearjerkers as rhythmical compositions, while kicking their legs high above their shoulders to the rhythm of the recitals. Their lyrics deal with severe childhood years, tragic love affairs or complicated lawsuits, but they are all tearjerkers - the one more challenging and revolutionary than the other. In this film by French director Emanuelle Bidou, bandleader Bethwel Mhlongo talks about the relationship between the toilsome lives of the Zulu migrants and their lyrics. The fact that these words emanate directly from their experiences is already apparent in one of the first songs they perform. It tells about a herd that has disappeared; the lawsuit will come up before the Court of Appeal. Other lyrics are also scathingly realistic rather than poetical. Bidou follows the musical Zulu migrants while looking for a job and films them while rehearsing. The members of Mhlongo’s band ‘Ubuhle Bembali’ discuss their hard lives in shabby hostels and the music that helps them get away from these lives. In the daytime at work, they long for the moment when they can go back home, where the other musicians are waiting. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)