Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema

Name: Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema
Genre: Action, Drama, Crime
Released: June 11, 2010
Duration: 119 min
Rating: 53

2010

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Mixed or average reviews based on 8 Critics

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Generally favorable reviews based on 4 Ratings

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7.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 4 Ratings

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GANGSTER'S PARADISE: JERUSALEMA

Movie Details & Credits

Lleju Productions | Release Date: June 11, 2010

Summary: Inspired by a true story, Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema is an unflinching look into the crime, corruption and the transgressions of those looking to survive in the most crime-infested district of Johannesburg. [Anchor Bay Films]

Director: Ralph Ziman

Genre(s): Action, Drama, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 119 min

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Critic Reviews

Wall Street Journal - Joe Morgenstern

Jul 1, 2011

The results are startlingly original, if occasionally overambitious. This is "Tsotsi" without the feel-good glow, a tale of entrepreneurship's perils and boundless pleasures. Read full review

The New York Times - Mike Hale

Jul 1, 2011

Between Mr. Ziman's music-video skills and his close approximation of the kinetic style of Michael Mann (a scene from Mr. Mann's "Heat" has a key role in the plot), it's easy to overlook the formulas and just enjoy the ride. Read full review

Movieline - Michelle Orange

Jul 1, 2011

The film is so busy rifling through genres that it fails to develop a coherent flavor of its own. Read full review

Village Voice - Nick Schager

Jul 1, 2011

There's minor amusement in the suggestion that entrepreneurial criminality begins with a preference for Donald Trump's "The Art of the Deal" over the Bible. Read full review

Los Angeles Times - Robert Abele

Jul 1, 2011

The whole effort is undermined by an abundance of mob-movie cliches. Read full review

New York Post - V.A. Musetto

Jul 1, 2011

The opening credits of Gangster's Paradise note that it was "inspired by real events." It would be more accurate to say that the film was inspired by Brian De Palma's "Scarface" and similar fare. Read full review

New York Daily News - Joe Neumaier

Jul 1, 2011

Has raw action and urgent performances, but loses power due to an amateur approach. Read full review

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User Reviews

gammacurve

Feb 25, 2011

The end of apartheid wasn't the end of South Africa's problems. If you were young and black you were free, but that didn't mean opportunities were open to you. As the film opens we such a person, the school graduate Lucky Kunene, who wants to study at university. Doors may be open butThe end of apartheid wasn't the end of South Africa's problems. If you were young and black you were free, but that didn't mean opportunities were open to you. As the film opens we such a person, the school graduate Lucky Kunene, who wants to study at university. Doors may be open but funding isn't, leading Kunene into a life of crime. As a fully-grown man and fully-fledged gangster, Kunene (Seiphemo, excellent) is, the film seems to be saying, little more than a businessman and a survivor. He doesn't just steal, he steals big (in this case, entire buildings) but when he reaches the pinnacle, his question seems to be: what next?

And that's where things begin to go wrong not just for him but for the film. In Kunene's search for both love and approval (a de facto form of acceptance from a society in which he is an outsider), a tough, gritty, often extremely entertaining gangster drama jettisons its thoughtful, finely wrought first act and skillfully handled midsection to mawkish melodrama and, later, extremely questionable morality, taking a first-rate South African film and turning it into a Hollywood formula picture. It's still entertaining on the whole, but what a shame it didn't quit while it was ahead, or at least admit it was as lost as its main character, and â… Expand

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