Yesterday (2004)—Zulu

About 40% of all people infected with HIV live in a handful of southern and eastern countries in Africa. This first Zulu film with an international release (and original music) puts a human face on this nightmare. It also shines a light on the complex web of forces that conspire against Africans with HIV/AIDS, especially women. There is only one man in this film, John, and he's absent. John works in a mine in Johannesburg, passed the AIDS virus to his wife, Yesterday, and beats her when she tells him the bad news about her "falling down sickness." Yesterday was so named by her father who said that "things were better yesterday than today." And so they were. Yesterday struggles to raise her daughter, Beauty, but the forces against her are many: economic exploitation, superstitions in her remote village, cultural myths, gender discrimination, environmental degradation, a paucity of medical care that's a two-hour walk, etc. But like so many brave women, Yesterday vows, "Until my child goes to school, I'll not die of this disease." Yesterday has earned several nominations and awards at international film festivals, and was the nominee for best foreign language film by the South African Academy Award. In Zulu with English subtitles.