An achingly beautiful film that is truly sublime in its simplicity. Leleti Khumalo, who plays "Yesterday", is utter enveloping to watch as she juggles her relationship with her daughter Beauty, her chores that are a matter of survival in the Zulu village, and her secret of a virus that will "stop her from living." Her strength and warmth in her vision of people even clouds her judgement when it comes to her relationship with her husband who works far away in Johannesburg. When the doctor at the clinic asks her how she got named "Yesterday," she answers: "It was my father. He always thought yesterday was better than today or tomorrow. But that was a long time ago."

"Yesterday" is a very heartbreaking film. After all, it's about a woman infected with HIV and it's set in a land where the infection rates are about the highest in the world. What's not to be depressed about as you watch this film?! And, not surprisingly, my family did NOT want to watch this film with me. My advice is to watch this film but be sure to have some Kleenex nearby...you'll likely need it.

The film begins with a Zulu woman (Yesterday, played by Leleti Khumalo) walking several hours with her young daughter, Beauty. Yesterday has a persistent cough and she's walking all this distance to see a doctor. Yet, time and again, the lines are too long and she cannot get to see someone. Finally, her friend has seen enough--and she gives Yesterday money to take a bus to the clinic. She soon learns that she's HIV positive--and showing symptoms of AIDS. What's to become of her or her young daughter or her husband who is living and working in Johannesburg*?

Clearly the star of this film is Khumalo--who did a great job in playing Yesterday. She was very realistic and determined--very decent but not ridiculously saintly, either. Also, while he was, at times, reprehensible as a character, Kenneth Khambula was amazing as her husband--showing an amazing range of emotions and playing a person with later stage AIDS quite convincingly. As for the direction, it was superb--with a deliberate but not too slow pace throughout. In fact, although the film was quite depressing, there isn't anything to really complain about here--as the film was brutally honest but still compelling and quite watchable. Because of all this, I am not surprised that it was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar (losing to "The Sea Inside"). Sadly, however, it's a story that is all too familiar in South Africa because there are many, many women like Yesterday doing what they can to cope with the illness.

*I am no expert on South Africa, though I have been there. Apparently for several generations, it's been common for men around southern Africa to leave their homes and families to work in the mines. Unforutnately, these men often have other wives or girlfriends or prostitutes on the side--leading, in part, to such a HUGE HIV rate (up to about 20% according to many estimates). Other factors, such as some government officials denying that there is a problem haven't helped, either.

Competing in the 2005 Academy Awards, this film lost to Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside). In this case, it really was a honor being nominated against such a fantastic film. It lost against the same film at the Independent Spirit Awards, where it also had to compete against Pedro Almodóvar's Mala educación (Bad Education. This is prestigious company, indeed. It won a couple of awards, nonetheless, and they were well deserved.

Yesterday (Leleti Khumalo) has to walk over two hours to see the doctor. Actually, to stand in line for several hours only to be told to come back next week. This is repeated until she finally gets in. One can scarcely imagine the sacrifice for medical care. Waiting six hours in the emergency room last week for my wife to be seen by a doctor, is a picnic in comparison.

She then has to deal with the shock that she, a faithful, married woman, has AIDS. She travels to Johannesburg to confront her husband (Kenneth Khambula) and gets beat worse than Rihanna for her troubles. He finally has to face his problem, but does not have her strength to fight it. And, does she have strength. Fighting her own disease, she also fights the superstition of the village and the lack of medical resources for her husband. A brave woman indeed! A beautiful film in all respects.