‘The Valley of a Thousand Hills’ Streaming on Netflix
There’s a new movie on Netflix called, “The Valley of a Thousand Hills,” . . . an LGBTQ movie about two women who face cultural challenges and their families to be together.
The movie debuted at the Durban International Film Fest earlier this year, and now, it is available on Netflix for streaming. In the movie . . . we watch Nosipho (played by Mandisa Vilakazi) who comes from a conservative village with a strict father and she has to choose between being her true self or being the perfect Zulu daughter who makes her father proud. Not only that, her father is a traditional man who is well respected in their village . . . and he has chosen a husband for her that she is expected to marry, whether she wants to or not.
Worse . . . Nosipho is in love with a woman Thenjiwe (played by Sibongokuhle Nkosi), who just happens to be the sister to the man that has been chosen to be her husband!
The movie starts off with Nosipho’s memulo . . . which is a coming of age ceremony. This is when we are introduced to her lover Thenjiwe, who whisks her away after the ceremony to show her the house that she is building for them.
We also get introduced to Vika, who is Thenjiwe’s brother, and the man that ends up being her husband. He makes up his mind that Nosipho is the woman he wants to marry, and starts making plans to pay ilobolo to her family.
The day before the lobola ceremony, Nosipho tells Thenjiwe that she does not want to marry Vika, and that her dad just won’t let up . . . and that they should just run away together and start their life somewhere else where they can be free to be themselves and be together.
Thenjiwe takes this to heart . . . and actually quits her job, packs her clothes and she goes to their meeting place to go and wait for Nosipho. But Nosipho changes her mind and never shows up!
So the very next day . . . she’s married off to Vika. Without giving off too many details . . . she ends up spending the night with her soulmate Thenjiwe and her husband and mother in law find out . And of course it goes downhill from there.
Vika is infuriated. . . and demands that she behaves like a proper wife that he paid ilobola for. When she has the chance to choose Thenjiwe in front of her husband and her mother in law . . . she folds. She tells Thenjiwe that she’s a married woman and she will do right by her marriage. And of course Thenjiwe is heartbroken and loses it!
To cut it short . . . Thenjiwe ends up being taken to a sangoma, so that they can take out the “demons” that are inside of her, as her brother and mother believe she is the one who is influencing Nosipho to like women.
The best part about the movie is when Nosipho decides to finally choose herself and the love of her life. She tells her husband and his family that she is done, that she is getting out of the marriage and that she’s choosing herself and the love of her life. Then she goes and finds Thenjiwe, hoping that she will accept her back in her life. . . and in the end she does. They can finally be together.
But then tragedy strikes . . . Nosipho and Thenjiwe face their biggest challenge yet. After everything they go through . . . they still can’t be together. Zero happy ending for them . . . the ending truly broke my heart!
The Valley of a Thousand Hills was directed by Bonie Sithebe, and it also stars Glen Gabela and Wiseman Mncube.
The movie is now streaming on Netflix . . . go and watch it. Here’s the trailer below:
