
Umbango is a completely different kind of Western.
It still has closeups of eyes during standoffs though.
I was scrolling down the current offering on Mubi and saw three movies with the genre ‘South Africa’s “B-Movies”’. Intriguing!
I’ve been keen for some more South African cinema ever since watching The Wound a week ago, so this was a fortuitous discovery. First on the list — Umbango, a 1986 Western with dialogue entirely in Zulu, and with a nearly all-black cast.
In Umbango, a man walks into a bar, and tells everyone that he’s taking over, that they all work for him now. He then goes around the bar, asking people one by one if they’re in. The first guy to say no, a Gringo, gets a lead salad.
It turns out that his name is Kay Kay. He’s an aggressive businessman, and he’s in town to track down the men he suspects of killing his brother.
The two men are Jet and Owen, who are easygoing mates and didn’t have anything to do with the slaying of Kay Kay’s brother. They try to avoid a shootout. But when Kay Kay’s men start harassing the people they care about, Jet and Owen realise that they’ll have to step up and confront Kay Kay.

Umbango was funded by the “B-scheme”, South African government funding to make films that appealed to black audiences. This was during apartheid, and it was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it put people in front of the camera who may have never had an opportunity to appear in movies. On the other hand, the films were often exploitative, and weren’t coming from the best place —they’re seen as a half-hearted way to keep the masses happy.
What isn’t half-hearted, though, is the effort on screen. The actors aren’t the best (really. The piano player in the saloon may have never seen a real piano in his life), but they’re giving it their all. They’re clearly having a blast, getting to star in an American-style Western.
The costumes are more Blazing Saddles than A Fistful of Dollars. The sets are cheap and indoor scenes are claustrophobic. Although that almost serves to make the movie more authentic! From what I understand, towns in the actual Wild West were built of hastily assembled shacks, not the big airy buildings we see in movies. A local tavern was more likely to be narrow but deep, as storefront was premium (and costly) real estate.
Which means that the shoestring B-movie style of Umbango really works for its subject matter. The action scenes are kind of laughable — when they get shot, the actors aren’t afraid to take a bite of scenery on the way down — but regardless of how the film was funded behind the camera, it feels genuine on screen.

