Fiela's Child

The Cape, the late 1800s. Two white census officers arrive at feisty Fiela's remote property near Knysna forest and are astonished to discover that one of the woman's young sons is a blonde Caucasian. Fiela is a Cape Coloured, and it transpires that nine years earlier she had discovered an abandoned baby on her doorstep and, without informing anyone, had taken it upon herself to nurture him as one of the family. A form of apartheid was already in place during this period, so the authorities insist she return the boy to his biological parents, a couple of poor Boers living on the edge of the forest. This old-fashioned, long-haul family saga was clearly made on a tight budget, but it's moderately charming in parts, and often quite moving. Unfortunately, the thick Afrikaner accents are hard going for non-South Africans, and some of the dialogue sounds like it's either dubbed or badly out of synch. (From a novel by Dalene Matthee.