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The Namibian
Mon 12 Aug 2013

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SMS Of The Day * MINISTRY of Gender and Child Welfare, TEARS are rolling down as I write this SMS. The killing of women in Namibia is now like reciting a poem. Are we really getting the protection we deserve while women not being treated as part of this c
Food For Thought * SO the Zimbabwe elections were free and peaceful and not free and fair?
Bouquets And Brickbats * NURSES at Katutura Hospital must stop wearing those big plastic sandals at work because they are not the official working shoes. We want to see you looking smart and beautiful with your full uniform.
SMS Of The Day * THIS nation is in dire need of a massive conference on housing. When we experienced a crisis in the education sector a crisis-control brain-storming conference was organised which resulted in the best deal ever for the Namibian child, nam
Food For Thought * BOURGEOISIE has become a daily occupation if not the order of the day of the upper-echelons, President Hifikepunye Pohamba we urge you to revisit this unpatriotic geocentricism among your staff and the well-connected, for everybody to r
Bouquets And Brickbats * COMMISSIONER of Prisons, can you please explain the strategies you use to appoint officers to certain positions? It is my observation that you are being fed with wrong information then you just promote individuals without making p
SMS Of The Day * I THINK Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda lost his belt because of this promoter and trainer. How can a world champion still be training at the Katutura Youth Complex where there is not enough equipment. I think they must follow the example of Ha
Food For Thought * NAMIBIA Dairies are unable to match low prices of imported milk and this ultimately means the consumer will have to pay more for local milk. Look at the prices of the local chicken. All these profits are going in the pockets of a few in
Bouquets And Brickbats * I AM pleased to hear that Cabinet has responded positively to the proposal of Namibia Dairies to support the industry. The restrictions which support the industry by reducing competition to ensure the survival of the industry is a
SMS Of The Day * CEO’s golden handshakes. Somewhere on our statute books there must be a provision that if a board of directors suspends/dismisses a CEO without due regard to legal provision (substantive/procedural law) such board must carry the costs for
Food For Thought * JACKY Asheeke was so right with her last column- why are the fathers of the dead children not being prosecuted? (Reference to the children who died in shack fires last week) Our justice system still protects men over women. In this cont
Bouquets And Brickbats * ALEXACTUS Kaure, your column in Friday’s newspaper opened my eyes. One hardly finds impartial case study analysers in Namibia. Let’s not destroy the Polytechnic’s strong foundation (Tjivikua) as yet. At least wait until the transf

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REEL NEWS - | 2013-08-02

Watch ‘World War Z’

Martha Mukaiwa

When you tell me Brad Pitt is going to be in a zombie film based on a novel by Mel Brooks’ son you can bet that I’ll be in the front row updating my status saying the very thing while devastating a box of Whispers.

What I’ll be lacking, however, is the warm body in the seat next to me to take the scare off all the deceased ones hurrying across the screen instead of dragging themselves towards some damsel only sort of in distress the way a good zombie should.

With the sprinting dead replacing the slow, sedated creatures we have come to know and see summarily defeated in zombie films which are often as lame as their characters’ extremities, ‘World War Z’ (2013) speeds them up and makes them a global threat in a zombie pandemic that all but engulfs the entire planet.

Though, it doesn’t sound like the kind of thing an A-lister like Brad Pitt would be caught, um, dead in, his portrayal as a UN employee turned househusband turned back into a UN employee is a solid one somewhat silently buoyed by newcomer and right hand woman, Daniella Kertesz, who plays an Israeli soldier named Segen.

Not wasting much time on the how and the why, the film pretty much opens on zombies running rampant through Lane’s home of Philadelphia. Deftly able to secure his family, he is soon invited back to the UN and is charged with finding ground zero and a way to defeat the man-eating menace.

What ensues is a trip around the world in which Lane finds more clues and it is in places or reference to places like Jerusalem and India where viewers may feel a significant thinning of the source material which seems to leave epic ideas somewhat twisting in the wind.

Still, it’s solid entertainment full of the frights we have come to expect from zombie films but with a logical and dialed down horror that will engage fans of the genre while still managing to coax in those just there to see Brad Pitt.

Watch out for South African star Fana Mokoena who played Dr. Mandla Sithole in ‘Generations’ in his starring role as UN Deputy Secretary-General, Thierry Umutoni. And now, a warning: do not sit in a row by yourself then be the last one to leave the theatre after the credits. You will be afraid. You will also have to stifle a scream when you bump into the theatre cleaners just as you open the cinema door. This film review is based on a true story.

– marth_vader on Twitter or martha@namibian.com.na