Caught in Between
Directed by Richard Werbner
Synopsis
The focus is on a leading village elder, John Lelatlhego, a retired Human Resources administrator trained in settling disputes in the South African mines. John gets entangled in the long troubled affairs of a quarrelsome young couple, a stay-at-home farmer and his police constable, town-savvy wife. They claim to be still in love. But when the husband confesses to adultery – ‘breaking the yard’ in Tswana terms – and the wife decides to fight for her rights in court battles, John finds himself very awkwardly placed as their marriage broker.
The film was shot in Botswana’s Moremi village with its awesome landscapes, and against the background of the dramatic national patriotic celebration for Botswana’s 50th anniversary. Informed by the filmmaker’s rapport with villagers since 1972, the film is the work of a returning anthropologist and mainly about a home-comer’s predicament.