Karabo Lediga’s “Sabbatical” is a Powerful Meditation on Ambition and Displacement

Lesego (Mona Monyane), the lead character in Karabo Lediga’s directorial feature-length debut film Sabbatical, is haunted and confronted by many demons. The first is the depressing knowledge that the career she has built for decades is gradually crumbling alongside the financial and social security it provides. Secondly, the decades-long demon that settled into her life from childhood: the feeling of isolation and displacement she feels in her immediate surroundings which doesn’t fit into the shape of her dream, needs to be confronted. Lastly, it’s addressing the rift between her and her mother, Doris (Clementine Mosimane.) It’s this second and third demon that has, over the years, shaped Lesego’s relationship with her “friends”, colleagues, childhood neighbours and ultimately her mother, Doris, who motivates her to dream big and wild. All through the lifeline of Sabbatical, it’s these demons Lesego is learning to sit with, confront and interrogate after successfully avoiding and isolating them for years. 

A successful banker, Lesego has built an admirable reputation in her company and by extension the country. Though we fragmentarily see the justification of her affluence and reach as one of the country’s successful bankers, Thulisile (Lethabo Mpoko), her childhood friend’s daughter’s intent to model her life after Lesego’s is indicative of her success. A scandal has happened at work and to escape being alone, Lesego compels herself to return home to an overbearing mother, cramped room, “myopic” friends,lover and neighbourhood that doesn’t serve her personal dream and ambition. This return will shape the film’s deep introspection on the question of mother-daughter relationship, the ambitious nature of the working-class and upwardly mobile middle-class South Africans, the feelings of resentment towards a place that once housed you and friends that once fits into your future and ultimately the reclaiming of one’s identity and place in a society that encourages one to scorn their humble beginnings. In this way, Lediga’s film is a comical but serious meditation on these subject matters. And, its ability to mould and mash all these topical issues and present them with performers who accentuate them, strengthen the film’s enjoyability. 

Feeling trapped, frustrated and limited is  something  every growing adult can relate with. Thus, it isn’t strange for growing adults, unmindful of the social class their parents belong to, to feel cramped and frustrated with living with or following their parents’ dictates, whether overbearing or not. There is always that need to physically, ideologically, culturally and religiously move. This movement often ultimately manifests in moving away from home. But, the shift often happens in recognizing that the space that once nurtured  your being isn’t serving you anymore. Thus, there’s always that quiet rebellion against this  space and the people in it. It’s this insight and knowledge that Lediga, who wrote and directed this film from a personal story, brings into writing and directing the film. The lead actor also brings this level of familiarity toward her performance too. 

In writing Lesego’s character, the script presents the backstory of a young girl whose mother has socialized to be fiercely ambitious and cruelly competitive. These lessons have, hitherto, shaped the life of Lesego. It’s why it isn’t strange that when a troubling situation happens at work there aren’t any friends or colleagues willing to comfort or support her. Even when she returns to the comfort of her childhood home, she feels displaced because she has mentally grown beyond that space. The neighbourhood also feels limiting. This limitation and displacement is situated in Lesego’s relationship with Koketso (Tsholofelo Maseko), her childhood friend and Matome (Kagiso Latane) her teenage lover but, more importantly, the feeling is deeply present in Koketso’s daughter who is similarly ambitious. 

In directing, Lediga makes Mona Monyane move  with the restraint of someone who wasn’t afforded much freedom and ability to carelessly make friends. The directing and Monyane’s curtailed movement around her mother’s house despite being a grown adult is filled with residue of living with a mother that subtly encourages you to embrace a cold disposition. For Clementine Mosimane who plays Lesego’s mother, she wears the garment of a single mother who has, for her whole life, moved with the understanding that society is cruel and unforgiving towards single mothers. And, it’s this societal pressure and the high standards she drills this onto her daughter. Thus, in their strained relationship and minimal conversation, it’s impossible to acknowledge the love and respect they have for each other. Unable to acknowledge this unspoken-about love and care, result in their conflict and estrangement. And, in Lesego’s personal life, this societal-enforced distrust and ambition, makes her filter between the timid, brave, caring and callous woman. 

The film affords itself the opportunity to interrogate elderly love. In Doris and Gabriel (Seputla Sebogodi)’s relationship, we find a positive image of two elderly Africans who are in an intimate relationship. Uncaring about society’s  questioning stare, Doris and Gabriel move with the certainty of two grown individuals who love and care for each other. Lediga’s script ensures that there are minimal moments of conflict but more moments of intimacy in their conversations and onscreen presence. Interestingly, the script deposited a dildo into Doris’ room. This inconsequential and seemingly insignificant image is important in pushing the narrative that an older woman’s sexual activity isn’t dead or should be because of  her age. Cinema is a powerful tool for interrogating and crumbling stereotypical and harmful thoughts and thinking and Lediga’s film is aware of this power. And it harnessed it.