WeeklySA_AdminBy Gugu Sibaya
Side by Side is a fascinating yet infuriating tele-novella. I bet it will serve as an eye-opener for our children who are skeptical of the extent of the evil that was apartheid.
It should also demonstrate just how much suffering our people have endured at the hands of white people.
A common apartheid thread running through that of oppression, is the trampling on of human rights, culture and land possession.
In Brazil men were flogged while in South Africa they were beaten to a pulp on a daily basis. In Brazil the practice of capoera (martial arts) and dancing salsa was banned with the dance also seen as immoral.
A Brazilian story in 1903 it centres around two exceptional women, Isabel Nascimento and Laura Vieira. Isabel is the daughter of Afonso, a barber and a former slave. She’s black, from the hillbased ghetto – the Morrow. Densely populated it reeks of abject poverty.
Laura is a privileged society lady and an educated daughter of senator Alberto Assuncao and baroness Constancia. She abhors the status quo. Side by Side exposes the hardships of a legally denied education which is why Isabel is self taught. Job reservation bred unemployment of blacks except for those few labourers. Survival depends on hustling.
Arrests and rape by masters was rife. Children born from these unions were placed in orphanages. Defiant of the law that prohibits relationships across colour, they become friends. The two girls met on their wedding day.
Laura’s arranged marriage to Edgar Vieira makes her feel uneasy but like women of her time, she’s forced into this liaison. Ze’ Maria Isabel’s fiancé stands her up at the alter. She was unaware that he had been arrested for his activism and practicing capoera (martial arts). This drives an angry Isabel into the arms of Laura’s brother, Albertinho who impregnates her. A scandal he and his family hide.
Disowned by her family for divorcing Edgar, Laura leaves town.
Six years later she returns to a town that still ostracizes divorced women. Standing by her ideals has left her poor. When an opportunity cropped up to dance salsa in France, Isabel grabs it with both hands. Six years later she triumphantly returns to Brazil a wealthy international star.
Reunited, the friends return to a still divided, discriminatory, patriarchal country.
By 1909 it had been 31 years since the country became independent but nothing much had changed.
Watch as they battle stereotypes, oppressive cultural norms and life in Brazi then.
Independent, smart, regal, proud, feisty and decades ahead of their circumstances, Isabel and Laura are living their dream – challenges and all.
