Frank and Fearless | |
---|---|
Directed by | Gray Hofmeyr |
Written by | Gray Hofmeyr Leon Schuster Geoff Newton |
Produced by | Menzi Thabede Andre Scholtz |
Starring | Leon Schuster Thembalethu Ntuli Kenneth Nkosi |
Cinematography | Trevor A. Brown |
Edited by | Ziggy Hofmeyr |
Music by | Nic Paton |
Production companies | Thabede Menzi Films Schus Productions Dapple Films |
Distributed by | Starburst Promotions (South Africa) Monarch Films (United States) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 97 minutes |
Country | South Africa |
Language | English |
Box office | $562,375 |
Frank and Fearless is a 2018 South African buddy comedy adventure film written and directed by Gray Hofmeyr and co-written by Leon Schuster, who also stars in the movie. [1] The film featured local actors, and used music performed by the Drakondale Girls' Choir, [2] Till You're Free Again, won 1st prize in the Great American Song Contest (2018) in the Special Category. [3] The film centers on poaching of rhinos. [4]
Fearless (Themba Ntuli), a young boy who lives in the African bush, befriends an orphaned baby rhino called Reini. Reini was orphaned by poachers and Fearless determines to put an end to the slaughter of rhino and prevent any more young rhino growing up without its parents. He plans to achieve this by kidnapping the ambassador of a South-East Asian country, using the Kruger Rand coin that his father left him to fund the travel and recruit the help he needs for his mission. Fearless and Reini team up with Dog, a Rottweiler, and Sonny Frank (Leon Schuster), a roguish character who lives on his wits. The film follows the unlikely gang as they tackle Fearless' mission - through dangerous, comical and heart-wrenching moments.
The group face obstacles and opposition on their journey. Dolf, a corrupt ranger turned poacher, and his gang of ruthless criminals hinder their progress. Dolf and Sonny Frank's chequered history and mutual contempt causes some tight and often funny situations. Adventures, captures and some awkward characters line the path the friends take to reach their goal. Fearless and his crew have unlikely helpers from the bush itself, including wild animals and magic mushrooms.
The African bush scenes were shot in Broederstroom, Hekpoort and beyond, much of it on Glen Afric with assistance from the Rhino Pride Foundation. [5] The Department of Environmental Affairs, together with SAN Parks, came on board as the primary sponsor. [5]
Director/film maker, Gray Hofmeyr, in an interview with AnimalTalk said, "We have all the comedy implicit in a road movie about four diverse and wacky individuals, whom we grow to love, on an impossible quest, trying and failing to overcome their differences and the obstacles and evils they encounter. Which is funny. And also very emotional, not just for the characters themselves, but also for the audience watching. And it is all set in a powerful story with a powerful message. Laughter and tears can follow one from the other very quickly and with very high emotion." [6]
The film received mixed reviews. Ethan van Diemen summarised these in his review for News24. [1]
There is controversary around the film - it is one of a number of Leon Scuster's films that Showmax took off the circuit in 2020 to evaluate for racial sensitivity. Following a review, Frank and Fearless is being reinstated. [7]
Nic Paton composed the soundtrack, and the main theme was by Don Clarke. [8]
The Don Clarke song, Till You're Free Again [9] is used throughout the movie, and in the empassioned plea in the finale. The song has also been used by Rhino Revolution, [10] a conservation project, to save the rhinos.
Shannon Elizabeth Fadal is an American actress and poker player. A sex symbol and teen idol of the 1990s and 2000s, Elizabeth is best known for her roles in the films American Pie, American Pie 2, Tomcats, Scary Movie, and Love Actually. She also starred in the films Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Thirteen Ghosts, Cursed, and Night of the Demons, played a recurring role in the sitcom That '70s Show and was a series regular in Cuts.
Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the hunting privileges of nobility and territorial rulers.
Kruger National Park is a South African National Park and one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of 19,623 km2 (7,576 sq mi) in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends 360 km (220 mi) from north to south and 65 km (40 mi) from east to west. The administrative headquarters are in Skukuza. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898, and it became South Africa's first national park in 1926.
Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park, formerly Hluhluwe–Umfolozi Game Reserve, is the oldest proclaimed nature reserve in Africa. It consists of 960 km² of hilly topography 280 kilometres (170 mi) north of Durban in central KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and is known for its rich wildlife and conservation efforts. Operated by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, the park is the only state-run park in KwaZulu-Natal where each of the big five game animals can be found.
Kaziranga National Park is a national park in the Golaghat and Nagaon districts of the state of Assam, India. The park, which hosts two-thirds of the world's Indian rhinoceroses, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to the census held in March 2018 which was jointly conducted by the Forest Department of the Government of Assam and some recognized wildlife NGOs, the rhino population in Kaziranga National Park is 2,613. It comprises 1,641 adult rhinos ; 387 sub-adults ; and 385 calves.
A rhinoceros, commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae; it can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species of the superfamily Rhinocerotoidea. Two of the extant species are native to Africa, and three to South and Southeast Asia.
The Indian rhinoceros, also known as the greater one-horned rhinoceros, great Indian rhinoceros, or Indian rhino for short, is a rhinoceros species native to the Indian subcontinent. It is the second largest extant species of rhinoceros, with adult males weighing 2.07–2.2 tonnes and adult females 1.6 tonnes. The skin is thick and is grey-brown in colour with pinkish skin folds. They have a single horn on their snout that grows to a maximum of 57.2 cm (22.5 in). Their upper legs and shoulders are covered in wart-like bumps. They are nearly hairless, aside from the eyelashes, ear fringes and tail brush.
The white rhinoceros, white rhino or square-lipped rhinoceros is the largest extant species of rhinoceros. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species. The white rhinoceros consists of two subspecies: the southern white rhinoceros, with an estimated 16,803 wild-living animals, and the much rarer northern white rhinoceros. The northern subspecies has very few remaining individuals, with only two confirmed left in 2018. Sudan, the world's last known male northern white rhinoceros, died in Kenya on 19 March 2018 at age 45.
Leon Ernest "Schucks" Schuster is a South African filmmaker, comedian, actor, prankster and singer.
Zakouma National Park is a 3,000 km2 (1,158 sq mi) national park in southeastern Chad, straddling the border of Guéra Region and Salamat Region. Zakouma is the nation's oldest national park, declared a national park in 1963 by presidential decree, giving it the highest form of protection available under the nation's laws. It has been managed by the nonprofit conservation organization African Parks since 2010 in partnership with Chad's government.
Garamba National Park is a national park in the north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo covering nearly 5,200 km2 (2,000 sq mi). It is among Africa's oldest parks and was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980 for its protection of critical habitat for northern white rhinoceroses, African elephants, hippopotamuses, and giraffes. Garamba National Park has been managed by African Parks in partnership with the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature since 2005.
Environmental issues in Kenya include deforestation, soil erosion, desertification, water shortage and degraded water quality, flooding, poaching, and domestic and industrial pollution.
Gray Hofmeyr is a South African film and television director.
There's a Zulu On My Stoep, known as Yankee Zulu internationally, is a South African comedy film directed by Gray Hofmeyr. Released in 1993, the film is the highest grossing South African film in the country's box office history. The film stars Leon Schuster and John Matshikiza as two former friends, one white and one black, who grew up together during apartheid, later reuniting as adults over a winning lottery ticket, while being pursued by a racist organization.
The Kruger National Park is a South African National Park and one of the largest game reserves in Africa. Originally known as The Sabi Game Reserve, it became a game reserve in 1898. The park became known as Kruger National Park in 1926, when it was named after Paul Kruger.
TheBlack Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit is the world's first officially-formed, registered and recognised all-female wildlife ranger unit, founded in 2013, with the purpose of protecting wildlife in the regions of the Olifants West Nature Reserve, and the buffer zone in the Greater Kruger of South Africa. The Black Mamba APU was awarded the Champions of the Earth Award, in 2015, by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). In the period between 2013 and 2022, the Black Mamba APU has won 10 International awards, for innovative approach to wildlife conservation.
Rhinoceros poaching in southern Africa is the illegal act of slaughtering rhinoceros in the southern African countries of Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, where most of Africa's rhinos live. The most common reason for rhino poaching is to meet the high demand for their horns in Asian countries, where the horn is predominantly used in Traditional Chinese Medicine but is increasingly being used as a symbol of wealth and prosperity. In previous generations, the most common rhino poaching activity was hunting for recreational purposes. Because of excessive poaching, rhino populations have decline rapidly since the 1970s, leaving some species critically endangered and facing extinction.
Don Clarke is a South African singer-songwriter, also known as The Songteller. Clarke is notable for his music contribution to South African culture with songs that celebrate South African sport, tell the story of heroes and support social issues.
Hemmersbach Rhino Force is a direct action conservation organization acting with a focus on the African rhinos. Rhino Force's main activities consist of anti-poaching rangers in the Greater Kruger National Park, a biobank called Hemmersbach Rhino Force Cryovault to preserve rhino genes and the Black Rhino Reintroduction to bring back rhinos to the Mid Zambezi Valley in Zimbabwe.
Bonné de Bod is a South African television presenter and documentary film producer. She is best known for her film STROOP - Journey into the Rhino Horn War. She is also noted for field reporting on the nature television series 50/50 for seven seasons. Recognition for her television presenting include a Jackson Wild Media Award nomination for 'Best Host/Presenter' in 2019 a SANParks Kudu Award for 'Best Journalist' in the years 2015 and 2019 and two Impact DOCS for 'Best On-Camera Talent' and 'Best Narration/Voice-Over Talent' in 2021. She has won over 30 awards as a film producer.
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