Review ‘Umjolo: My beginning, my end!’: a silly TV movie with more spice than the classic romantic comedies
Director: Zuko Nodada Script: Thuli Zuma, Thutu Zuma | Playing time: 74 minutes | Year: 2025
The Zulu word ‘Umjolo’ means emotionally damaged. But this series of South African films is much lighter than the title suggests. AND Umjolo: My beginnings, my end! fits perfectly on the list. Topics such as class differences and infidelity are the subject of some slapstick scenes. However, the classic love dilemma – the choice between the heart and the head – becomes a little more exciting thanks to South African style, jazz music and colorful generational differences.
The story begins with a sing-song voiceover in the vibrant nightlife of Johannesburg. And the tone is set immediately. Due to the juicy Zulu dialect mixed with some English, the characters get away with a little more exuberance than we normally tolerate in Europe. Like everyday infidelity and loud pranks. Mayi celebrates her thirtieth birthday alone in a bar: her rich but condescending fiancé is absent. The result? That afternoon and night he becomes more interested in playing jazz musician Zweli’s saxophone.
What follows is the age-old romantic comedy dilemma between the head and the heart. The rich and somewhat condescending one versus the attentive artist who earns below average. Class differences and generational differences often serve as a source of entertainment in this film. And here and there he succeeds. Such as the misunderstanding of a very special South African family tradition for widows.
In Umjolo: My beginnings, my end! The great inequality in Johannesburg is often glimpsed. The city is home to a modern nightlife and wealthy heirs with domestic servants. But also great poverty and leaking roofs. Furthermore, among different generations you can feel the evolution of traditional gender roles towards greater control of women over marriage and their choice of partner. In this country, family ties and community respect remain essential to happiness. But those stories are never prominent because of the light sauce that covers them.
Quite often, the film sticks to slapstick scenes with exaggerated facial expressions and shouting. For example, during a family dinner with the couple, one hears witty phrases like “first burned chicken and now I’m giving birth.” And a confession of infidelity between the wealthy in-laws is quickly forgiven after the promise of a BMW X and a holiday in the south of France. Finally, after a single bite of lunch, the rich fiancé Sizwe ostentatiously walks to the bathroom with his more modest in-laws. The film’s intertitles also don’t leave much of a mystery.
forget you Umjolo: My beginnings, my end! the next morning while you brush your teeth again? Probably. But it’s a breath of fresh air among streaming movies from faded Hollywood actors and sugar-coated production companies like Hallmark. Instead of muzak with jingle bells, South African jazz is heard. A vibrant city rather than an atmospherically lit ‘suburb’. And the lovers already show a little more fire than in the typical deeply Christian American romance. Finally, there are two plot twists that are worthy of the name. Are you ready for 75 minutes of exotic escapism? Then let out pleasantly indignant cries at this Umjolo.
Umjolo: My beginning, my end! can be seen in netflix.