The Devil's Lair

Braaim is the leader of the Nice Time Kids, a gang of drug dealers in the Cape Flats, an impoverished suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. The abject poverty can be attributed to the forced housing that began in the 1950s, part of the Apartheid regime's plan to keep the non-whites segregated. In cinema verité style, the film offers an intimate and confronting look at Braaim's life, his criminal entourage (almost none of whom conceal their identities) and his family. The camera remains a fly on the wall during gang meetings and drug use, accompanied now and then by atmospheric music and interspersed with monologues from the aging Braaim, who has increasing doubts about his career as a drug kingpin, and his wife Gadija, who is considering a divorce to protect their young children. And while Braaim must deal with ongoing marital problems, he also has to lead the armed turf war with two rival gangs: the Americans and the School Boys. Along the way, he fails to keep his children away from his lifestyle, in spite of the "Number 1 Dad" sign adorning the wall.