Worked Up is indebted to Vittorio De Sica’s neo-realist classic Bicycle Thieves. Neo-realism is a style of movie making “born out of necessity as much as anything else … near-documentary narrative films that used non-professional actors and [were] shot on the run at actual locations” (Paul Tatara – film critic).
The Armoeds are a Cape Flats family living in the notorious “Kreefgat” area of Netreg, Cape Town. This is a harsh, poverty stricken and gang ruled area. Corine is the mother of Brandon, Tiema and Ayesha. Her husband Ganief is mostly in a daze – but makes a show of running the “family business” – collecting scrap metal using the horse and cart they inherited from Corine’s father. Collecting scrap metal is the family’s only source of livelihood. Brandon, their only son, is 15 and has been working on the cart since he left school at the age of 12. Brandon has a love-hate relationship with the horse, Diamond, and with his father.
Riding Diamond out into the misty township streets early on a Sunday morning with the fancy Roy Rogers style saddle and stirrups, inherited from his grandfather and used only on show days, fills Brandon with pleasure. In these moments of solitude Brandon loves Diamond and the world of horses. But Brandon hates the teasing of the other kids – for whom being involved with horses is backward and un-cool. Street smart and literate, Brandon has fine instincts. He cares about his mom and is desperately sad and depressed about his drunken father.
Boeta Ag is the local gangster. Ganief has been borrowing money from him to sustain his gambling habit. When he is too far in arrears with his payments, Ag sends his men to take Diamond. There follows a desperate search to recover the horse, which brings a turning point in the relationship between Cornelius and Brandon. Cornelius’s determination to recover the horse even if it means confronting Ag, lets Brandon see another side of his father. The action builds as Brandon discovers a new respect for his father. But in the end it is not enough to save Cornelius.
Worked Up is a classic story of fathers and sons set amidst the mixture of conspicuous consumption and poverty that characterizes the Cape Flats. The title Worked Up reflects the emotional atmosphere of the Armoed home. But it comes from a chance remark from a minor character, Rashaad, also a horse owner, who comments that “die perd het ons groot-gewerk” – untranslatable into English – it literally means this horse brought us up (by working for us, putting food on the table and a roof over our heads).