Life, Above All review

Set in a South African township, Oliver Schmitz’s emotionally powerful drama concerns 12-year-old Chanda (Khomotso Manyaka), first seen arranging the funeral of her baby sister.

Furthermore, her HIV-positive mother (Lerato Mvelase) is terminally ill, and increasingly ostracized by the locals.

Rich HD cinematography, the vivid sense of community and the dramatic focus on its young heroine all stop proceedings becoming weighted down by social issues.

Schmitz is aided too by Manyaka’s outstanding work, her character rousingly confronting the bigotry of the adult world.