The Film
Nothing For Mahala, is as the name implies, a lesson that for every action, there is a consequence. A South African story, that we can all relate to in today’s world.
The story begins by following the lust for wealth and power by main character Axe, and as he is sitting in court for drunken driving, and sentenced to 200 hours community service.
Working his community service hours at a retirement home, Axe meets a sour old man, Hendrik (played with aplomb by Marius Wyers). The two start of hating each other, yet soon discover they can use each other to reach certain goals of their own.
Axe works for Mike (Jamie Bartlett), head of a real estate company, and has an air of Mafioso to him. Trying to please his boss, and find a way to repay the loan sharks he owes a lot of money to, much hijinx ensues, including Casper de Vries as Diski, a hilarious assistant to Dog (Warren Masemola), who are out to either get payment from Axe, or teach Axe a lesson.
Nothing For Mahala shows us that there is nothing for free, everything has a price, and each action has a consequence. For most, the price is money, but once the lesson is learnt, it is clear that you can do things just for the satisfaction of doing them, and that is payment enough.
Nothing For Mahala is a great South African film, full of laughs, a good story, and some local kwaito beats. Available now on BluRay and DVD.
Disc And Bonus Features
The DVD is encoded at a high bitrate, meaning that image quality is clear, and can be scaled up via software to HD on larger screens. Sound is presented in 5.1, but the surrounds are barely used. Your LFE channel will get a bit of a workout when the kwaito music kicks in though.
There are two bonus features. The first being an alternate ending, which although seems like an ending you’d expect, the cinematic ending is the one that works. The other feature is a behind the scenes, showing a bit of set life, a few interviews with cast and crew, and generally a small insight into the minds of those who were part of the film.