Retribution

Retired judge Khumbulani Maphosa (Joe Mafela) heads out to an isolated cabin in the cape mountains to try and finish his memoirs before a looming deadline. Early one morning a lost hiker (Jeremy Crutchley) stumbles upon the old place and the judge invites him in. Only the hiker is not really lost and this is no chance meeting. In what must be one of the most dynamic and intelligent thrillers to come out of South Africa, Retribution, weaves an ever-increasing psychological tension between these two powerhouse actors as the real intention of the hiker is gradually revealed and we realize that the mistakes of the judges past have come back to haunt him. Taunt, beautifully shot and at times impossibly tense, Mukunda Michael Dewil¿s Retribution may well herald a new dawn in South African film-making.