Leon Schuster is back with his latest film, Oh Schuks! Your Country Needs You!
Love him or hate him, Leon Schuster is part of the fabric of South African culture. Like braais, the Springboks, Mrs. Balls, and Spur, Leon somehow slip right into our pantheon of cultural emblems. With plenty of excursions in fully plot based movies over the years; or ones where they combine a plot and candid camera pranks; Leon and the team have this year returned almost completely to their roots, with the same crazy candid camera pranks that show South African’s in their most natural states, and give us all something to laugh about this crazy country of ours.
In Oh Schuks! Your Country Needs You!, Leon Schuster is joined by longtime ally and sidekick Alfred Ntombela, aka Shorty, and is joined by new comers to the team Rob van Vuuren, aka Twakkie from the Most Amazing Show, and also debut film actress Laré Birk. The team works well together as a cohesive unit, Leon is mostly employed deep undercover in some elaborate disguise, whereas Rob is less recognizable and can be put out in front to be the face man for many of the pranks; often receiving his own fair share of attempted klaps from the angry public. Laré is used beautifully whenever a feminine touch is needed, and both of these actors would probably do very well in this field in the future if they ever start their own candid camera pranks.
As for the jokes themselves? Some hits, some misses, but on the whole I personally believe this to be Leon Schuster’s best movie in years, mixing together day to day situations and political concerns of the time in a very real way to provoke a genuine and heartfelt message at the end. When Leon and Rob dress up as policeman to impose an “e-Cycling” fine on travelling cyclists, or when Leon comes out to play an uncaring ANC official who is failing to meet the concerns of a rural community, you see the problems of South African life, magnified through the lenses of comedy. These are also able to avoid becoming too bitter in our mouths, as many of the prank members of the public react in such sweet and heartwarming ways to situations meant to arouse anger that one can’t help but feel positive about the future for us.
At the end of the day, Leon Schuster knows what movies he likes to make, and you can’t expect this not to be like those too, so if you don’t like Leon’s slapstick antics, then this probably won’t change your mind. But if you understand what his intention is, and how it shows so much of South Africa, and if you watch it with the right audience, you might well have a great time with Oh Schuks! Your Country Needs You!
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3 out of 5….? THREE? Lemme guess. You are friends with Leon. You remind me of a typical mother… of a contestant…. on X Factor… telling him/her she can sing…. and Simon Cowell vomits the moment as soon as she hits the third note…. THREE? Out of FIVE? I lost 2 hours of my life. Add 5 minutes writing this warning to all…. My niece has depression. No hope for life. She started cutting herself again
You sat through the whole movie too? Same. I was afraid someone recognized me leaving the cinema… Not even Jesus came to my rescue. nor Satan as I offered my soul in exchange for arson.
Having watched the movie myself I must admit it isn’t one of Leon’s best prank films. However, it isn’t the horrible film I was expecting. Instead, I found myself laughing at a number of the pranks and enjoying, possibly, the final moments with Shucks Schuster! And for that he deserves to be commended. Leon Schuster has made his mark on South African’s and has been pivotal in uniting the country with laughter. In his final film he attempts to stir up South African’s to stand up against corruption and fraud. This is something we can all admire. Three stars is fair rating for a film that I imagined could have been a lot worse.
Some scenes in this movie, were staged. I have the proof. And all the ideas in the movie, his own? I doubt it very much. Costing R15 million rand? I think Sars should investigate.
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