‘Blood and Water’ is an intriguing South African high school drama.
The Netflix original television series follows Puleng, a teenage girl who goes under cover at a new school to see if the top student there is her sister who was kidnapped at birth.
Actors Ama Qamata as Puleng Khumalo, Khosi Ngema as the possibly kidnapped baby Phume Khumalo, but living as Fikile Bhele, and Gail Mabalane as a grieving and hopeful mother take up leading roles in the already popular series that is climbing Netflix’s Top 10 in countries like the US, UK and France.
The series was released on 20 May and spans six episodes, with each nail-biting scene bringing us closer to discovering the truth, while revealing deeper issues and scandals plaguing the upper-class, privileged school.
The show is based loosely on the real-life story that unfolded in Cape Town in 2015 when Zephany Nurse was reunited with her parents 17 years after being kidnapped.
She had been living life under another identity and considered her kidnappers her parents before her biological sister coincidentally started going to the same high school.
The girls became friends and noticed their remarkable resemblance.
In ‘Blood and Water’, what starts as just a chance meeting at a birthday party turns into a full-on plot by Puleng to uncover the truth and bring peace to her parents by returning their stolen child. Puleng has always felt some resentment towards the older sister she never met, but whose absence caused a rift in her family.
They celebrate the missing Phume’s birthday every year with a big cake, keep her room as a shrine with newspaper clippings, police reports and other information pinned to the wall, and sometimes fail to give Puleng and younger brother Siya the attention they need.
What this show does is expertly highlight the lengths people will go to to keep their secrets, while painting a gripping portrait of high school life in South Africa.
Aside from the main story, there are deeper issues that emerge, such as teens battling high school politics, forbidden love, backstabbing, elitism and drugs.
As Puleng’s own issues spiral out of control and her plan leads her into more trouble, pressures mount as the sister she never met, but who now seems moments away, fights her own demons and tries hard to stay sane.
The cast’s performance is stellar, with the diverse group of rich teens going through the motions of high school life while it also neatly highlights the beauty and wonder of the city of Cape Town and the music and art that make it famous.
It also introduces us to some hot new faces in African television such as Thabang Molaba, who plays KB Molapo, Dillon Windvogel as Wade Daniels, Natasha Thahane as the feisty Wendy Dlamini, and Puleng’s best friend, Cindy Mahlangu, as Zama Bolton.
This is definitely a win for South African storytelling and props need to be given to writers Daryne Joshua, Travis Traute and Nosipho Dumisa, who provide us with something that keeps us on the edge of our seats and has us screaming at the screen.
– annehambuda@gmail.com or @anne_hambuda
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