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On a warm evening at the IL Grande in Monte Casino, Johannesburg, a packed auditorium sat, in expectation.
DStv’s M-Net had talked up the latest production, Trackers, based on a crime novel by the prolific Deon Meyer to no end. It was a realm they had entered into where the viewer’s tolerance for undo buttons, harking back to times when the time and sound were different, would just simply not be possible.
Yolisa Phahle. Multichoice CEO of General Entertainment speaking after the much-heralded Ndlovu Youth Choir had belted some exhilarating numbers, said of the introduction of Trackers:
It’s a long time since we had drama. So this heralds the return of drama to M-Net in a fantastic production, which you see, your favourite actors from M-Net, from Mzansi Magic and this is truly South African story obviously written by a legendary and highly celebrated South African writer… We’re all veyr excited about the start of this new journey.
A case of, ‘if you don’t tell your own stories, someone else will’.
This was echoed by Meyer who said that while some of his best sellers had been adapted for TV in other parts of the world, this one, Trackers, was his favourite because it was done in South Africa.
And through the panel discussion, we waited. Had they talked it up? Was it going to be one of those where, you could see what they were trying to do, but not sure they had hit the mark?
I had quite happily chomped at the bits with the popcorn, the lights and action that came with the red carpet which was graced by James Gracie (Lemmer), Trix Vivier (Flea), Thapelo Mokoena (Quinn) among others had kept me busy looking for voices and images.
And then darkness fell. An explosive sound to felt, seen even consumed the auditorium. We learned later that Phahle worked on sound while at the BBC and what we got was several iterations, precise to the point of exceeding stimulation for the ears, you could almost feel its gentle undulation through your soul in sync with the visuals.
It was gripping. The intimacy of the camera work, the palpable taste of the nuances of the African characterisation of the scenes, it felt in texture, primitive, tangible and if you have traveled in the region, a place you have been to before.
The landscape, architecture, dusty roads, depiction of sapping heat that is the very nature of the Southern African savannah was something you could almost reach out and touch. The heartbeat of the streets of Cape Town to the undisturbed wild of the border near Zimbabwe, it was all in there.
The choreography of the scenes, the creation of extremities in tension all woven into patient story-telling jumped at you into the screen.
Presented the challenge, the actors upped the ante, delivering bigger and as Mokeona told us, he believed that ‘we belong on this stage’. In an almost irresistible way, they let their characters pirouette with consumate skill towards to the edge of conscience, danger, expectation, relief, horror, decadence, the whole.
The story itself doesn’t need selling. The world believes in it. But so much falls through the crack, if an adaptation isn’t solid. A regular M-Net production could have had a fair crack at it. We would have given it kudos. But with Cinemax (HBO) and ZDF on board, this was a go hard or go home kind of film. It ripped up the form book and inserted a new set of rules.
And with it, it was like how one grew up playing Super Mario. The character always moved forward and never went back.
Trackers represents that moment. The moment M-Net cannot go back from. For an audience that will lap up this show, this is what they will expect going forward.
On 27 October 2019, the first 90-minute episode of Trackers will land on M-Net at 20:05.
The six-part series weaves together different storylines about black rhinos, the CIA, diamond smuggling, organised crime and a terrorist plot to attack Cape Town. It also sees the return of Sisanda Henna (Inkunzi). Also starring are Rolanda Marais (Milla), Sandi Schultz (Mentz), Brendon Danies (Osman) to name a few.
We’ll give you our spoiler review after that. Meanwhile we will be dropping some interviews between now and then…
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