SYNOPSIS Zululand, South Africa. Summer. Yesterday (Leleti Khumalo), a woman in her early thirties, and her seven-year-old daughter Beauty (Lihle Mvelase) are walking on a long dusty road that cuts through a breathtaking but forbidding landscape. They are on the way to the clinic in the village of Kromdraai —Yesterday has a lingering cough and wants to get it checked. On the way they meet two teachers who have been looking for work for two years. Yesterday isn’t sure if there is work in her village, Rooihoek, but tells them that they have a two-hour walk to get there. Arriving at the clinic, Yesterday is distressed to see a long line. After waiting all day in the hot sun, they are sent home and told to return the following Tuesday. The next morning, as Yesterday fills her plastic bucket at the village water pump, the local women fill her in with the latest gossip. Yesterday then sets upon her daily chores, washing clothes in the river, plowing the earth with a simple hoe, and gathering tree branches for firewood. On Tuesday, Yesterday and Beauty again make the arduous trek to the clinic in Kromdraai. Although they arrive much earlier, they are once again too late to see the doctor. On the way back they run into one of the two teachers (Mmoni Moabi), who says that her friend was lucky and got a job in Rooihoek. In the morning, Yesterday takes the new Teacher (Harriet Lehabe) to the pump. The local women are aflame with the news about a local man who has taken a new wife from outside the village. Later, Beauty comes back to the family hut to see two legs sticking out of the doorway. It’s Yesterday, who has collapsed. Hysterical, Beauty runs out, screaming for help. Yesterday goes to see the Sangoma, the traditional healer, in her hut. The Sangoma tells Beauty that she will not be able to help her unless she lets go of her anger. Yesterday is confused. “I am not angry. What do I have to be angry about?” The Teacher, concerned about Yesterday, suggests that she take a taxi. Yesterday feels that the five rand (75 cents) is a waste of money and prefers to walk. At dawn, the Teacher wakes up Yesterday and insists that she get in the “taxi” (a minivan), telling her that it is already paid for. The Teacher will take care of Beauty during the day. Finally, Yesterday is able to see the doctor (Camilla
Walker), a blonde woman who speaks Zulu. Yesterday tells the doctor
that she was named by her father: “He said things were better
Yesterday than Today.” The doctor listens intently to Yesterday’s
breathing and then asks for her written consent to a blood test. Yesterday
stares uncomprehendingly at the form, before admitting that she can’t
read or write. The doctor waives the form and takes Yesterday’s
blood. At the clinic, the doctor asks Yesterday many disturbing personal questions: Has she had sex with anyone else than her husband? Does she use condoms? Yesterday stares in despairingly at the doctor. Though neither of them says so outright, it is clear that Yesterday has just been given a diagnosis of AIDS. The doctor says that it is important that Yesterday contact her husband and have him be tested. Yesterday looks sadly at the doctor and asks, “Am I going to stop living?” After unsuccessfully attempting to phone her husband, Yesterday goes to visit the Teacher and asks if she will take care of Beauty while she is away in Johannesburg for a few days. The Teacher readily agrees. Yesterday takes the minibus to Johannesburg. She seems starkly out of place in the teeming metropolis, but she pushes on. Eventually she reaches her destination, a gold mine, where her husband, John Khumalo (Kenneth Kambule), labors as a miner. Yesterday confronts John. At first suspicious at her sudden appearance, he flies into a rage after she explains the purpose of her visit, beating and kicking her mercilessly. During the long ride back to Rooihoek, Yesterday flashes back to the happy memories of her marriage. Tears roll down her bruised cheeks. * It is now Winter. Yesterday still appears relatively healthy, but all the joy seems to have been drained from her face. She struggles to pump water at the well and to handle her other chores. Coming home, she sees her husband John, gaunt and sickly, leaning against their hut. She walks right past him, without a word. That night, the two sit on opposite sides of the kitchen table, a gulf between them. John tells her how he didn’t want to believe her, but his illness gradually made it impossible for him to work. Shaking with shame, he breaks down. Yesterday gets up and cradles his head to her chest. At the well, the local women are full of suspicious questions about Yesterday’s husband, wondering why he hasn’t come out of their house since his arrival. Is he sick? At the clinic, the doctor is impressed with Yesterday—her body is strong, keeping the disease in check. “It is not my body, it is here,” says Yesterday, touching her temple. “Until my child goes to school, I will not die.” The Teacher tells Yesterday that the whole village is saying that her husband has AIDS. Yesterday tells the Teacher that it’s true—and she has it too. She tells the Teacher about a woman from another village who was stoned to death by her neighbors for having the virus. “What are you going to do?” asks the Teacher. Yesterday doesn’t answer. The Teacher tries to explain to the local women that Yesterday’s husband poses no health risk to them, but they are not persuaded. Yesterday visits the hospital in Tugela Ferry. It is much bigger than the clinic, but it can’t hold the huge amount of AIDS patients in its beds. There’s a long waiting list and no room for John. A group of villagers, led by the Sangoma, peer through the windows of Yesterday’s hut. “This is what your anger has done,” says the Sangoma. “I am not angry,” says Yesterday. Determined to create her own solution, Yesterday starts collecting junk and scrap metal to build a new hut, where she will care for her husband. Through sheer will she completes the shack on an empty grassy field and helps John make the excruciating step-by-step walk to his new home, as the villagers stare at them sullenly. Unfortunately, Yesterday’s valiant efforts to make a peaceful place for her husband to rest are cruelly cut short. John dies soon after the move. * Six months have passed and it is Summer again. Yesterday mourns in front of John’s grave. The disease is finally beginning to take its toll on her—she is much thinner and there are a few sores on her face. She is joined by the Teacher, who tells her “when the time comes, I will care for your daughter as if she is my own.” Yesterday returns to the shack she built for her husband. Finding reservoirs of strength, she wields a sledgehammer and destroys it, piece by piece. At the house, Yesterday has a gift for Beauty. It is the dress that she will wear on her first day of school. In the morning, Beauty takes her place in the courtyard, amid all the other children. She’s wearing her brand new uniform and is smiling happily at her mother. Yesterday looks on from the schoolyard gate, smiling proudly. She turns from the gate and heads down a long, dusty road, until she is just a tiny figure in the distance. |