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On the first Wednesday and Thursday of every month, a group of Joburgers convene at the Egrek Cinema to indulge in a film which they later critique, debate and unpack. Athi Dantile, who is the brains behind the intimate community that identifies as Trouble Film Club, recently invited me to be a part of the experience.
Inside Trouble Film Club
Initially, I was determined to refrain from describing the gathering as "a book club, but for films". However, the film of the evening, titled The Long Walk, beckoned me to draw these parallels as it was an adaptation of a Stephen King novel.
Before pressing play, my host reminded guests that Film Club has rules:
- Don't be late.
- Phones on silent.
- No kissing (I haven't established his relationship status so, while I suspect this might have been jealousy speaking, I cannot say that with certainty).
The beauty of Trouble Film Club doesn’t even lie solely in the community’s appreciation for creativity, though. Guests arrive about an hour before the film commences to network, reflect and bask in the shared anticipation of what the evening has in store.
Pre-film conversations on the evening of my visit were a robust cocktail of election talk, dissecting history and sharing parenting tips. So, even before we got down to poking holes in the script and marvelling at the cinematography, I already got a sense that I was among individuals who fearlessly challenge each other while maintaining mutual respect.
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This reminded me of a tweet where a book club virgin once asked, “So you guys don’t just gather to stuff your faces and get sloshed at these so-called book clubs?”
I find it odd how social media users sometimes accuse visual art patrons of “pretending to even comprehend those scrambled images and weird structures”.
We all love social media and it has proven to be a really powerful tool; however, an honest conversation needs to be had about how it also contributes to brain rot.
Being part of a community with a shared passion for any given art form exposes you to broader perspectives than just your own. A by-product of these multi-dimensional perspectives is brain stimulation and intellectual aerobics.
There’s no joining fee per se, but those who want to experience @troublefilmclub can follow them on Instagram, purchase tickets when they are released and Bob’s your uncle.
The long walk to un-freedom?
The film opens with a mother and son driving to what appears to be a military base. When the major general explains that slacking attracts three verbal warnings, which are subsequently followed by a ticket, most of us assumed that the ticket was the equivalent of a red card in sports. Suddenly, bodies were dropping in public spaces and the young men, who all looked to be in their late teens and early twenties, were losing brothers.
The consensus at the end of the film was that the general consumption of media and entertainment has gradually shifted toward a darker and more gruesome palate. I felt differently, though, because my familiarity with Stephen King’s horror novels made me feel that the dystopian shift is only as deep as people’s taste but is not necessarily unchartered territory for this particular storyteller.
A story about young men who embark on this journey while fully aware that getting tired will result in being shot dead until there’s only one man left standing is precisely the kind of twisted mind-boggler that’s synonymous with King's name.
While the film is gory with a side serving of mass murders, the lead role Pete McVries, played by British actor David Jonsson, is a ray of sunshine who leads with compassion, carrying his fellow walkers when the fatigue starts taking a toll, and even when they are at literal death’s door.
From a cinematography point of view, I also felt that the lakes, rain and lush green lawns the walkers encountered along the way were an emphasis on how death is as natural as all the beauty in the world.
It was really refreshing to hear the contrasting views because, while one club member described this as “the best movie he had seen at film club”, another said this was a film he wished he could unsee.
Some of the members were traumatised, but who would not be? Walking non-stop for that many kilometres (I stopped keeping score some time after 300km) over several days without getting any sleep, real food or heeding nature’s call poses danger to the cardiovascular, urinary and neurological systems.
One member pointed out something profound. Her view was that perhaps human beings derive so much pleasure from gruesomeness and violence because our own lives are so twisted that it’s almost cathartic to observe the suffering of others.
Because while there’s a cash prize at the end of all those lost lives, how does the winner even enjoy that money after witnessing the massacre of peers who ultimately became his brothers for that brief period?
This club member’s sentiment is perhaps something that I, or we all, need to contend with. But ultimately, the story for me was about strangers encountering kindred spirits and cultivating brotherhood. That kindred spirit is the connecting thread to all the members of Trouble Film Club, and I’d like to challenge all my readers to join a creatively inclined social club.
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