South African director Carey McKenzie's poaching/drug thriller Cold Harbour is an effective, moody film that makes great use of locations, mining popular local attractions - Port of Cape Town, Table Mountain, Two Oceans aquarium, the unfinished Eastern Blvd highway, the much-hated Disa Park "tampon towers" - for maximum, brooding noir appeal. Rather than a Cape Town tourist travelogue, McKenzie's film soaks up every sinister corner of this typically laid back city. It sets up a plausible international poaching / smuggling / drug scheme against the backdrop of a complex society where gang culture and racial tensions still hang heavy, black voices still feel unheard and white Afrikaners still feel threatened and insecure. It's a potent melting pot.
The story follows ambitious township cop, Sizwe Miya (Tony Kgoroge), as he relentlessly investigates an international smuggling ring after a Triad gang member washes up on a beach. Some rather heavy-handed exposition lets us know that Sizwe will be promoted to detective if he cracks the case, but what is really at stake is his integrity. Sizwe is the eternal outsider - a township cop leading raids into his old neighbourhood, and a rookie cop determined to hold on to his integrity amid colleagues who presume he will accept petty bribes. As Sizwe enters the high stakes world of big time gangsters with deep pockets, shadowy figure Venske (Deon Lotz) informs us, his ability to refuse bribes and turn a blind eye will be definitively tested. Sizwe is adamant that there is no price tag to buy his integrity but, when no one seems to have their hands clean, there may be a limit to the amount of disillusionment he can handle before he gives up the good fight.
Sizwe finds himself torn between two mentors - police boss, Venske, and established township criminal, Specialist (Fana Mokoena) - both willing to stick their necks out for him, but expecting loyalty in return, and harbouring ambiguous motives. When a mysterious Chinese shipping executive, eager to recruit Sizwe, and able to lead him to the top of the smuggling ring, is added to the mix, all the ingredients for a combustible noir are in place. Sizwe will have to play all sides to make it out alive, but whether he is playing for the greater good or his own gain, only time will tell.
Cold Harbour builds up to a brisk, lean and satisfying finale, although the third act seems to want for a certain momentum or emotional clarity to push it to its zenith. Perhaps this is intentional; the titular coldness of the harbour and its ruthless inhabitants leaving its cool touch on us and the film's final frames, or perhaps, after all the pieces of the puzzle have unfolded and come together, it is unclear just where eternal outsider Sizwe is left standing.
