Just from my limited knowledge in movie making, I can tell Inja is a masterful piece of art that is rich in complexity and meaning; from the beginning, the film establishes a tense and near controversial story despite the innocence in the opening scenes. The first character introduced, Thembile, is an innocent, jovial boy during the time and had made friends with the puppy of his ‘boss;’ he’s obviously an extremely compassionate and well-meaning boy, as he vigilantly watches over the puppy and even goes so far as to risk punishment by stealing some rope in order to make a collar.

The opening scenes establish both where and when the setting is, represented through the flag hung at the beginning of the movie. This immediately establishes tension and meaning within the film; the emphasis on the time and place of Apartheid creates a sense of division and suspense without having to say a word to contextualize. As soon as the “boss” is introduced, the issue of race is solidified within the movie; the other workers move away, from the scene, and there is imminent danger established through the tone of the editing and scene setups. This theme of racial division and fear is further developed as Johannes proceeds to demand that Thembile put the puppy in the bag and then beats it.

Because of this scene, we can infer that the innocence once present in Thembile, or at least part of it, is gone, both because of the abuse Johannes subjected the puppy to as well as the inherent racial prejudice present within him and now, as a consequence of the sack scene, within the dog. As time passes, Thembile continues to care for the property he lives on as well as his boss and the dog, despite the trauma he experienced during his childhood. It’s blatantly obvious that the scene of the dog being beaten was due to racial discrimination and was there to establish a power dynamic– as represented through Johannes pointing the gun at the child– that carries forward despite the passage of time.

We see how absurd and traumatic Thembile’s life has been when Johannes keels over in the field they’re working in; Thembile is forced to either go against his “boss’s” wishes and risk letting him die in order to spare the poor creature who doesn’t know any better than to hate Thembile because of his race, or shoot the poor creature he had become so attached to in order to adhere to and uphold the power dynamic established at the beginning of the video. The entire film is cut and filmed as if it’s ambiguous– nothing is blaringly pointed out or mentioned, but each scene caters to the overall theme and dynamic set within the movie. This forces the audience to think for themselves and come to their own conclusion of what’s going on; the rollercoaster of emotions, the implicit but unmentioned racial divide, and overall atmosphere are reflective of what I imagine was actually going on during that time period. No one explicitly mentions it, but the issues troubling the African people are unspoken rules and a reality that they may not be able to vocalize, but understand implicitly.

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