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One hesitates to criticise American actor-producer-director John Berry, whose work had a deep socio-political heart and through which he developed an outstanding relationship with black culture. Having been Orson Welles' assistant, Berry himself became another maverick and proceeded to unsettle, then outrage, white America with his stage work, both as actor and producer. McCarthyism saw to it that he continued his career in London and Paris, before returning to the States in 1970 where he staged "Boesman and Lena" (by the South African playwright Athol Fugard) with James Earl Jones and Ruby Dee. A one-off who was part combative, part generous, Berry died in late 1999 (at the age of 82) during post-production of this film.
No-one can doubt the sincerity of Berry's deeply-felt probe into a disadvantaged, black South Africa, as epitomised by the disintegrating but ever lively relationship between a poor couple, Boesman and Lena (Glover and Bassett). With their shanty town having been bulldozed, they are forced to live amidst rock and sand on the mud-flats outside Cape Town. She rants, mainly in the desperate hope of making him listen; he is deceptively calm until they are joined by a Kaffir, a tribesman even further down the social scale than they are, whereupon Boesman becomes extremely hostile, revealing a belligerence born of insecurity.
Despite the veracity and intensity of the performances by both Glover and Bassett (these are big, juicy roles for actors who are never off the screen), we are unfortunately provided with a filmed play that hangs on virtually nothing but dialogue. The camera, which rarely moves, is, if you like, in the front row of the stalls. The impact of even sharp, spiky torrents of speech is diluted by the fact that there is almost no let-up, and you become grateful for the occasional flashback to Boesman's and Lena's sunnier times. At its best, "Boesman and Lena" is lifted by two gifted actors; at its worst, it's like being pressed against the inside wall of a bus by someone who just won't shut up.
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