Both a victim and perpetrator of South Africa’s culture of violence and poverty, by the time Jabulani Shabangu turned 17 he’d been shot twice, stabbed and had his leg broken by a crowbar.
At 19, he was sentenced to seven years jail for housebreaking. In Leeuwkop Prison, near Johannesburg, he found his voice, a sense of purpose and a new direction thanks to the prison choir and an unlikely mentor/father figure in a guy who was serving 24 years for armed robbery.
Jabulani’s inspiring story is superbly chronicled in Australian filmmaker Michael Davie’s documentary The Choir. Granted remarkable access to the prison, its staff and inmates, Davie spent four years tracking Jabulani, his mentor Coleman Mgododlo and the choir. The country’s biggest prison, Leeuwkop is a grim institution, where drug-taking, rape and violence are rampant. 'If you’re soft you’ll become another man’s wife," one inmate warns. 'If you fight back he’ll stab you."
'This place is not about rehabilitation, it’s about survival," says another. Against all odds, the choir gives its members the chance to show they are capable of changing for the better, and a camaraderie which helps insulate them from the worst criminals. As the choirmaster, Coleman is a tough and demanding teacher, bawling out unruly members or giving them a thump. When he’s first locked up, Jabulani is angry and bitter. His outlook starts to change under Coleman’s tutelage, but he messes up by getting caught trafficking in drugs and is tossed into solitary.
When he gets out, he begs Coleman to let him back in the choir. Coleman agrees, but warns this is his last chance. The film follows the jailbirds as they rehearse for the National Prisoner Choir Competition in Cape Town. The singing and multi-part harmonies are truly wonderful, sending shivers down my spine. When they sing 'We shall overcome some day," you believe that will hold true for at least some inmates when they rejoin the outside world. One of the warders admits he felt like crying when he realised 'music has the power to heal."
The rewards for Coleman and Jabulani were tangible, as both were granted early release for good behaviour. The young man’s next challenges are to find a job, re-connect with his six-year-old daughter, and stay out of trouble. As the film ends, it seems he has a better than even chance of succeeding.
It’s another impressive effort from the Zimbabwe-born Davie, whose previous works have investigated subjects such as the brutal abuse of women in Pakistan, the plight of war refugees in the Balkans, and the child soldiers of Africa.
Co-produced by National Geographic Films and Australia’s Essential Viewing, the docu deserves to find a wide audience on Nat Geo channels around the world. It was gratifying to see The Choir was warmly received in South Africa, winning the audience award for best film at the 6th Annual Tri Continental Film Festival in Durban in 2008.
