Tuesday 16 February 2016

TV REVIEW: SABC 1's New Punchy Drama "JAB" Brings a Nostalgia for "Million Dollar Baby" With a Strong Resemblance of "Home Affairs"
















"JAB" is a coming-of-age SABC 1 sports drama set in the world of competitive boxing and experienced through the eyes of a young woman from Langa in the Western Cape, starring Vanessa Ntlapo and Mzu Ntantiso; directed by Lucilla Blankenberg.

In episode 1, we meet Bee (Vanessa Ntlapho) who trains at a local boxing gym. She is a petite and humble yet strong willed young woman. For years, Bee has been training on her own, without any help from anyone. Just watching what others do in the ring and copying that. She comes home to find her siblings, including her brother Mandla (Mzu Ntantiso) who lives with disability, stranded outside after getting evicted by the landlord for being behind on rent. She manages to negotiate for an extension and the landlord lets them stay longer.

Naturally, when I saw a woman and a boxing ring in the same frame, I thought "Million Dollar Baby". Just like Hillary Swank in the 2004 drama film, Bee seemed like this strong and independent woman who will not take anything lying down, but will fight to win at all times (in and out of the ring). That was proven when she swiftly maneuvered her way through the situation with the landlord. From that point on, the show seems like a beacon for feminists and woman activists who would relate to and applaud Bee's story with so much joy. Vanessa Ntlapho fits into the role like a glove and does great justice to the character. When she speaks, it's with command and her body gestures reek of strength, just exactly what Bee is all about. In a scene where she is seen cleaning floors in the males' changing rooms at the gym, after negotiating for a job to help her family raise money for rent, she refuses to excuse a couple of gentlemen who want to get dressed. Instead, she tells them to go ahead as they did not have anything she has not seen before. This immediately let's us know that not only is she stubborn, but she is not as shy and polite as she seems. She can have quite a cheeky attitude at times too. She takes up professional fighting and hustles for a paying gig to attempt raising quick money for her family. This lands her in a nonconservative club where men pay to watch women fight; a moment that presents a fine line between Bee's rise in power or her absolute demise. Has she sold her soul to the devil? Are we still going to love and admire her? We assume that in the coming weeks, the series follows her as she tackles the dangerous world of professional boxing, on a mission to make it to the top.

Bee is not the only woman in the show. Her mother, Gladys (Zingi Mtuzula) a nurse, is a woman that seems to be taking so much strain in her life. In her first appearance, she is seen stealing pills from the clinic's cabinet, letting us know that she is self medicating and may have some kind of addiction. Unlike Bee, she doesn't seem so strong and the two do not have a healthy relationship. It is not so hard for one to find themselves picking sides and ruling in favor of Bee though. She has that heroine factor.

However, as compelling as the storyline in "Jab" is, I couldn't help comparing it to SABC 1's drama series, "Home Affairs". Bee is like a version of Brenda Ngxoli, and the fact that they are both sports women does not help. They possess very similar personalities and characteristics, with tomboyish behavior. The two productions also have a few resemblances between each other with the drunkard mother vs the self medicating mother, and the troubled underage sibling vs the sibling with disability. Due to this, "Jab" tends to feel a little familiar to the eye, but thank God for the boxing element that brings a refreshing twist to the whole thing. It is amazing to see Mzu Ntantiso playing a character with disability and portray it so well. He is doing an amazing job and it is refreshing to see him in a more humble and calm role that the usual semi-aggressive roles have seen him play before.

Set in a township in the Cape, "Jab" is a truly South African production with a 'Mzansi vibe'. It tells the typical South African story with a unique twist of boxing that might have been seen on TV before, but not on South African TV; and that is what makes it a winning formula.

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