Back of the Moon

Back of the Moon, a South African film by Angus Gibson ()

Also referred to as Back of the Moon: Sophiatown, 1958

Not to be confused with the Back o' the Moon [1], the famous Sophiatown shebeen celebrated in a number of stories, films and plays.

The film

Inspired by his experience with the making of the documentary Freedom Square and Back of the Moon in 1986, director Angus Gibson revisited the subject in a fiction film released in 2019.

Back of the Moon is set in 1958, and takes the audience down memory lane with its bitter-sweet love story between Badman (played by Richard Lukunku), a powerful gang leader in Sophiatown, and singing sensation, Eve (played by Moneoa Moshesh). Set in the glitz and menace of Sophiatown the day before the police are to move in to force the residents of Gerty street out of their homes to be trucked to a desolate township, ten miles out of the city.

In this context it tells of "Badman", an intellectual and the leader of the most powerful gang in Sophiatown, who has lived life on his own terms, his gang - The Vipers - and Eve Msomi, a torch-singer on the brink of an international career. On what could be the last day of his life, a gangster finds something worth living for.

Directed by Angus Gibson, written by Libby Dougherty and Angus Gibson and featuring a cast that includes Richard Lukunku (as "Max" or "Badman"), Moneoa Moshesh (as "Eve Msomi"), Lemogang Tsipa ("Ghost"), S'Dumo Mtshali ("Strike"), Siya Xaba ("Kid"), Thomas Gumede ("Nat"), Israel Matseke-Zulu ("Bra Don"), Sicelo Dlamini ("Boogy Makhapla"), Sipho Nhlapho ("Deadline") and Emmanuel Gweva ("Mamba").