Video Magic :: weird Africa edition

Umshini Wam

dir: Harmony Korine

starring: Die Antwoord

Harmony Korine is the master of the fucked suburbia film, having written the infinitely depressing and brutal movie KIDS when he was 19 as well as writing and directing such dark kid-centered dramas as Gummo and Julien Donkey-Boy under his belt (as well as the recent Trash Humpers, which…well… is about people who hump trash). Die Antwoord are the notorious party gangstas of South Africa. Combined, the two forces create a bizarre, drug addled, yet touching short film about two wheelchair bound gangstas rolling around smoking massive joints and shooting their guns. The title of the film, Umshini Wam, roughly translates to Bring Me My Machine Gun, though if you did you’d probably end up in a pool of blood on some concrete floor in the middle of Johannesburg. Like most Harmony Korine outings, this film is a weird and beautiful portrayal of people who never grew up and, like most of his films, leaves you with this strange feeling of warmth and disgust at the end. Wheelchair gangstas…what more do you want?