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The Chronicle
May 26, 2000
By Staff Reporter
It takes a special kind of film to make teenagers sit up, pay attention and then argue passionately about what they have just seen. Yellow Card is that film.
Produced by Media for Development Trust and directed by the experienced John Riber, Yellow Card tells the story of Tiyane, a young footballer in Harare whose charmed life comes unstuck when he gets a girl pregnant.
The film has already been shown at several schools in the Bulawayo area and the response has been extraordinary. Students who normally fidget through educational films have been watching Yellow Card in rapt silence, then erupting into heated discussion afterwards.
The secret is that Yellow Card does not preach. It tells a compelling story about characters that young people can identify with. Tiyane is not a bad person. He is a normal teenager who makes a mistake and then compounds it by running away from the truth.
The performances are impressive throughout. Leroy Gopal is a natural screen presence as Tiyane, and the scenes between him and Ratidzo Mambo as the betrayed Linda are genuinely affecting.
The football sequences add pace and excitement, while the township locations give the film an authentic Zimbabwean flavour that will make local audiences feel right at home.
Yellow Card is a credit to Zimbabwean filmmaking and a valuable tool in the fight against teenage pregnancy and HIV transmission.
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