Vaya (2016)

Country: South Africa
Director: Akin Omotoso
Production Co:
Genre: Drama
Rating: 7.6/10
Length: 115 mins

Storyline

Three people board the train bound for Johannesburg. Strangers, each on their own mission, with a simple task to complete and in search of family to help them. But when they are betrayed by the very people whose protection they sought, they find themselves trapped in the city - invisible and alone. Vaya interweaves three separate plots, that intersect and intertwine in a gripping, deeply moving and often funny narrative about struggling for survival and dignity in the city. In the first story a rural man has been promised a job, by his big city cousin. The money from the job will allow him to pay lobola back home which will change his life forever. He's excited; his cousin is an important man, whose patronage the village has relied on for many years. To work for him is a great honour. But on arrival he discovers that the job is not quite what he thought. He is required to kill his cousin's rival. In the second story a young man is sent to Jozi to reclaim his father's body, only to discover that the body has already been claimed. His father's hitherto unknown 'city family' has taken it, and they are not giving it back. The young must find a way to return the body to his rural home or risk the family reputation forever. In the third story a young woman takes her aunt's young daughter to Joburg to live with her mother for the first time. But she has her own plans. To dump the child and finally escape the boredom of rural life to explore her own dreams and ambitions in the city. But she soon discovers that her aunt, is not who she thought she was. She runs a shebeen and lives with an extremely devious gangster who supports her. She is unable to take care of herself let alone a small child. The young woman must now choose between her own dreams or saving the small child and ruining everything.