‘Siembamba mama’s little baby, wring its neck and throw it in a ditch, step on its head make sure it’s dead.’
This is the lullaby of the film The Lullaby. You might be thinking it’s not a very nice lullaby to send my little baby off to sleep. Well, you would be right. If there is one thing that you will need to prepare yourself for, before watching this film, it’s that the innocent little baby doesn’t have a very good time of it. In fact, the above macabre lullaby is a pretty good indicator of how things are going to go. Prepare to be uncomfortable.
Starting in a South African concentration camp in 1901, we are introduced, quite brutally to the horrific treatment of prisoners at the hands of those dastardly British. Right from the start, this film shows us what we may have in store, with a quite unsettling procession of rape victims handing over their newly born children to the British, only for the babies to have their necks broken and then their bodies were thrown off a rocky cliff. Not exactly tea with the vicar. Cut to modern day and the birth of a baby to a young woman. Already my heart is in my mouth as I anticipate all manner of awfulness.
If you were to write a checklist for all things cliché in a horror movie it may well include, flickering lights, creaking floorboards, closet doors opening by themselves, moving shadows, creepy dolls, screaming faces in the mirror, mysterious ghostly footprints in the house, creepy music boxes playing in the night, hallucinations of blood, tv static and ominous noises coming through the baby monitor. Well, this film checks every one of those items. You may be surprised to hear though, that it pulls them off very well. Yes, you can cram every possible horror cliché in a film and still have a good movie. There are a couple of moments, in particular, which were buttock clenchingly uncomfortable to watch. The scene where the mother cuts the babies nails even now sticks in my mind.
The Lullaby is a gritty, uncomfortably intrusive film. It lulls you in with a good story and great acting and then kicks you right in the feels. It might be somewhat predictable, but it never disappoints. I found myself pre-empting the plot, daring to contemplate the most horrific scenario I could imagine, and although I tended to be right, its something else to then see it play out. This film attacked my sensibilities and left me feeling emotionally violated. I enjoy films that provoke some emotional response, and this had me squirming.
There are four main acting credits on show here, and they all do a fantastic job of carrying this movie. You have Thandi Puren as the mother, Deánré Reiners as the hopeful but ultimately shunned love interest, and Reine Swart as Chloe, the focal character and traumatized young woman. However, huge kudos to Brandon Auret (District 9, Elysium, Chappie) as Dr. Reed. Brandon has a CV that includes pretty much every significant movie to come from South Africa over the past decade.
Directed by Darrell Roodt, another significant name in South African cinema, with an equally impressive CV of works. The Lullaby is his fifth movie written by the talented Tarryn-Tanille Prinsloo.
If you are sensitive to baby horror, then you are going to be screaming behind a cushion. Go check your little darlings, hold them tight, don’t let them go. Count their fingers.
The camera is used to masterful effect with fluctuations in focus and off-center camera angles, to convey the change in Chloe’s mental state in a visually unsettling way. You are constantly bombarded with disturbing undertones that make for an uncomfortable feeling you won’t soon be rid of. This film is wonderfully executed and will leave a bad taste that will linger beyond the end credits.
The Lullaby can count itself amongst that brand of refreshing horror, that is shiny enough for mainstream, yet shocking enough to satisfy horror fans and even throw a few new surprises our way. This is a movie that will stick in your mind. A very good 4 out of 5 bananas.
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