The Harvesters

From South Africa comes this compelling variation on the biblical theme of Cain and Abel. Set in the post-apartheid African nation’s Free State region, populated by ethnic white-minority Afrikaan farmers, The Harvesters centers on teenaged Janno (Brent Vermeulen), son of an emotionally frozen father and maniacally religious mother. The latter is an unyielding activist for adopting orphaned or abandoned children, including three young girls taken in by her and her husband. Janno is a frail dreamer who nevertheless knows his role in the field and as a son, brother, churchgoer, friend, and student. He keeps his head down, not challenging a culture of stoic masculinity and, in the case of his demented grandfather, old racist grievances. Janno enjoys fishing with his pals, and he joins in family dinners, which have moments of lightheartedness despite omnipresent gloom from his folks’ constant talk about sin and suffering. Janno’s balance in handling all of this is suddenly disrupted when his mother insists on adopting Pieter (Alex van Dyk), a street kid from the criminal side of a big city. Pieter is the son of a prostitute who won’t raise him, and he has prostituted himself for survival money. Pieter is an ill fit in Janno’s familial tribe, with its price tag of conformity to rigid Christian values of blind obedience and hard work. But the boy’s drug withdrawals, resentment, and lack of cooperation stand in sharp contrast with Janno’s outwardly mellow personality. Once Pieter understands how to play the game, a battle with Janno ensues over who will prevail as lead pretender at home to win parental favor. Writer-director Etienne Kallos delivers a strikingly original take on the familiar Old Testament narrative. Recommended. (T. Keogh)