The Harvesters

This darkly powerful psychodrama finds fear and tension in its hermetic world of rural farming and religious immersion amid the almost contradictory beauty of its sprawling South African locale.

A slow-burning and increasingly suffocating variation on the myth of Cain and Abel, The Harvesters (Die Stropers) is the impressive feature debut from Greek-South African filmmaker Etienne Kallos.

This sternly moving, vividly shot rural drama draws quasi-Biblical resonance from its tale of teenage foster brothers locked in a familial and cultural power struggle on a remote farmstead.

Although austere and restrained in its approach, this assured feature debut effectively hints at a churning savagery beneath the surface, which is every bit as unforgiving as the stark landscape.

Vermeulen gives a belter of a performance, never overplaying Janno's inner turmoil. Everything he thinks and feels plays across his entire body, most notably in the film's most potent scene as he has a confrontation and connection with Pieter.

It's a film with uncomfortable weight, one that slowly but surely crushes you in the way any society presses on those who don't fit in.

"The Harvesters" is an unsettling feature at times, but also intensely atmospheric.

One of the best measures of a film is its resonance, its ability to stick with you long after you have left the theater or turned off your screen. By that measure, The Harvesters is a resounding success.

Though it left me impressed by the cinematography, acting and score, I felt that ending it so vaguely was an opportunity los

Kallos captures this with timeless, expansive visuals, contrasting golden farmlands with densely coloured local villages.