Beat the Drum (2007)

"Spectacular...affecting human drama...First-rate.  Dennis Harvey, Variety
"...a film with a big heart.  Leonard Maltin, Entertainment Tonight

Editor's Note Set in South Africa, this inspiring drama follows a young orphan, Musa, who sets out to search for his uncle in Johannesburg. He leaves behind his village, afflicting by a mysterious disease. Once in the big city, Musa undergoes a series of events that cause him to return to his ailing village, armed with knowledge that could change all of their lives.

	Clive Scott
	Junior Singo
	Nolatandu Maleke
	Owen Sejake
	David Hickson - Director
	David McBrayer - Writer
	Johnny Breedt - Production Designer
	Karen S. Shapiro, et. al. - Producer
	Klaus Badelt - Original Music By
	Lance Gewer - Cinematographer
	Mark Winitsky - Editor
	Ramin Djawadi - Original Music By

eFilmCritic.com 8 of 10
Carrying off both the innocence and idealism of a character as young as Musa would seem an unapproachable goal for any actor. Junior Singo in the main role is fantastic, pulling together a performance full of pain, responsibility, grief, and heroism with what looks like relative ease. He made me a fan in the first few minutes, and I'll search out his future work with great curiosity. The other performers are slightly overshadowed by his power, especially given the sidebar importance of a story about an executive and his HIV-infected son, which never blends as well as it should into Musa's narrative...Sure-handed direction from David Hickson, and beautiful widescreen cinematography by Lance Gewer make Beat the Drum easy on the eyes, and the screenplay, despite dialogue that slowly becomes more and more preachy, is extremely well structured. Musa's powerful quest is enough to supply the movie its emotional effect, but the dialogue tends to knock the nail in the hole once its already in...An important story to say the least, and a very well made movie on all accounts. Beat the Drum is as satisfying a movie as one could hope for, with a performance from a young actor which is as good as any you'll be privileged to see. - Paul Bryant