Main Reef Road (1999)

• 84%
• 1999
• Documentary
• Nic Hofmeyr

Avoiding the 'shopping malls and fake piazzas' of Gauteng, the film follows the road that runs through the province's history and present. The journey to find out "why we are here" is a task Hofmeyr takes on with commitment and humour. He meets a housing activist named Rasta, who represents people fighting eviction from an area threatened by sinkholes and the white councillor who sympathises because he once lived without electricity. There are hidden subcultures of American car buffs, who smaak their Wildcats and the beauty queen who races cars for her father, her country, and God. The mines that mark the route continue to shape the lives of the people we meet. The search for the metal that gives Gauteng its name commits men to the deep to dig for the thousands of tons of rock needed to produce $400 000 worth of gold every week.