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With the X-Files and Law and Order Mokae appeared in the biggest television around.
Parker Kane, an average detective story, directed by Steve Perry. 1990. It was a television pilot which didn't lead to a series. The director went on to be a "follow-up" director (Speed 2, Lethal Weapon 3,4, Die Hard 2). The character Parker Kane is ultra-hip, an ex-cop he is now a private detective.
A friend of his is killed by a hit squad and he seeks out the killers. Actually he doesn't seem too grieved by the death and coasts through the film seemingly without any problems or difficulties in life-the music just after the killing is an up-tempo "life is good". He does discover a case of his friend filled with money, then a key to a storage room with an expensive car and bike.
Mokae is the likeable cafe owner, one of Kane's friends.
All images from the film.
Dream On and the two-part episode The Taking of Pablum 1-2-3 (5.1, 5.2) 1990. Dream On is a light comedy series which uses clips from old b&w films to reflect Tupper's feeling. It is a nice idea but does slow down the story.
Brian Benben stars as Martin Tupper, and in these episodes Mokae appears briefly playing a UN Dignitary giving a speech.
The Tupper's baby (called Little Richard) is kidnapped by a hapless brother and sister, but the police assume Martin is the kidnapper.
Stephen Engel was the writer and the director was Ron Wolotzky. John Landis (director of An American Werewolf in London) is one of the executive producers. The film is very tiresome lacking comedy or suspense.
All images from the film of the episode.
The cartoon series Happily Ever After brings multiculturalism to traditional fairy tales. Mokae does the voiceover of Mr. Babooska in The Valiant Little Tailor from 1995. Bruce W. Smith directs, the writer is Daryl G. Nickens and the cast also includes James Earl Jones. Mokae's character Mr. Babooska bullies the little tailor.
But the tailor escapes and his journeys include him outwitting a giant. Eventually he comes across a king (James Earl Jones) and his princess and after further adventures marries the princess and lives happily ever after. All images from the film.  The X Files episode Teliko (4.3) from 1993. Dark skinned men are going missing believed kidnapped. Then one turns up dead with his skin turned white.
Zakes Mokae plays the ambassador of Burkina Faso who tells Mulder the African myth of the Teliko, a possible lost tribe who evolved into other creatures.
Mulder is paralysed and Scully (Gillian Anderson) has to face Teliko.
Lisa Ferguson writes "[Mokae] was unfamiliar with the hit show when he was called to appear on it. "I'm not kidding," he says. "They just called me and flew me out to Vancouver," where the show was previously filmed (it's now produced in Los Angeles). Nor did he catch the episode when it aired. "I never really watch myself," he says. "You look really ridiculous sitting there watching yourself. "I'm basically a stage actor. Movies and TV- especially TV- I'm terrible!" he says, chuckling. "I feel much (more) secure and safer in the theater." (Las Vegas Sun, 10 Mar 1999).
Teliko is part of Bambara mythology. The Bambara are an ethnic group in
Mali, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, the Gambia, and Burkina Faso (from the
Joshua Project
here). All images from the film.
Percy & Thunder directed by Ivan Dixon and written by Art Washington, 1993. A boxing saga with Courtney Vance as the young boxer (left) and James Earl Jones (right) as the trainer involved in the struggles outside the ring.
The film lacks the realism of say Rocky, with the gym full of people who clearly could not stand a round inside the ring.
Mokae has a role as Pee Wee, owner of the local gym.
When Percy starts a relationship with a woman, Thunder wants him to stop. Mokae gets involved in the argument
The film of course leads up to a fight in the ring.
The acting of everyone is as poor as the direction. The photography is particularly bad, with lack of focus in some shots- the director of photography is Hector Figueroa.
All images from the film.
A documentary in two parts about cinema in South Africa, directed by
Peter Davis and Daniel Riesenfeld. 1999, each partm56 minutes.
"Using a wealth of archival footage and commentary by filmmakers and
actors, including a young John Kani and Miriam Makeba, this two-part film
examines the role of cinema in both supporting and attacking Apartheid,
focusing on the impact of Hollywood films in South Africa, the depiction
of South Africa in Hollywood films, and finally, the emergence of an
indigenous film industry in South Africa. It also questions Hollywood’s
commitment to racial stereotypes and reluctance to depict black heroes."
(from African FilmFestival New York
here).
In segregated South Africa films were a major source of entertainment,
where people could escape from the problems of every day living.
Novelist Lewis Nkosi says "for a moment we forgot apartheid".
Initially films were standard Hollwood fare, but gradually films for
the non-white population had non-white actors and (in South Africa) stars.
Actor John Kani says "The whole bug of me being an actor was as a
result of those great movies". The film is highly critical of
Attenborough's Cry Freedom, with the white character dominating the film
despite being about Steve Biko "all the black characters in the film
reduced to something very minor, very thin and characters where you don't
get an idea of at all" (John Matshikiza who plays Mapetla in the film).
A Dry White Summer fares better with Zakes Mokae saying
All images from the film. Quotes are from the film unless
specifically referenced.
Rise and Walk: the Dennis Byrd Story, directed by Michael Dinner, 1994. An American
football
star Dennis
Byrd played by Peter Berg becomes paralysed. He then has to undergo treatment to regain the
use of his legs.
"The 6ft 5in, 270lbs Byrd was a second-round draft pick for the
Jets in 1989 and quickly became a fan favorite for his intensity
on the field as much as his humble, soft-spoken approach off it.
He was considered one of the NFL’s promising young defensive
ends... his life was changed during a game in November 1992,
against Kansas City. He broke his neck after slamming headfirst
into the chest of team-mate Scott Mersereau as Chiefs
quarterback David Krieg stepped forward to avoid a sack. The
impact broke the C-5 vertebra in Byrd’s neck, leaving him
briefly paralyzed, although doctors were uncertain if Byrd would
ever be able to walk again...After a vigorous rehabilitation
over the next several months, Byrd returned to the Meadowlands
for the Jets’ opening game the following season and walked —
gingerly but unaided — to midfield as an honorary captain" (Associated
Press quoted in The Guardian, 16
Oct 2016).
Despite the inspiring
background the film turns
it into a predicable story.
Zakes
Mokae has a minor role as the assistant of the therapeutist.
The director of photography is Tim
Suhstedt and the editor is
James
Austin
Stewart.
The teleplay is
by John Miglis
based on the book by Dennis Byrd with
Michael D'Orso.
All images from the film and the book cover. Apologies
for the poor quality of the images.
Law & Order with the episode Wager (4.18) in 1994. Directed by Ed Sherin with
Zakes Mokae playing a lawyer in a story about murder with a background of gambling and baseball. The father of a famous baseball player is murdered, and suspicion falls
on Papa Doc (played by Ray Aranha), a chiropodist who is actually involved
in organised gambling and drugs.
Mokae plays Edgar Barkley, the lawyer representing the baseball player.
The court case against Papa Doc stumbles and detectives reconsider the evidence.
The episode is bland with a predicable range of
witnesses, and the story lumbers to a climax. Mokae is not given
anything challenging and so is not on form.
The suspect is nicknamed Papa Doc, the infamous
dictator of Haiti with his infamous Tonton Macoute. Mokae played a
Tonton Macoute member in The Comedians. The credits for the episode include
two co-producers, two producers, one "produced by", one supervising producer and
two co-executive producers.
All images from the film.
Gensyn med Johannesburg (Return to Johannesburg) an Afrikaans documentary in 1996 by Anders Høgsbro
Østergaard revisiting Mokae's 1962 film A World of Strangers-
also called Dilemma. Mokae and fellow Dilemma actor Evelyn Frank revisit Johannesburg
together with Dilemma director Henning Carlsen.
Zakes Mokae and Evelyn Frank.
Director Henning Carlsen with novelist Nadine Gordimer.
Mokae is happy revisiting his hometown.
But he also visits Pretoria Municipal Prison where his brother was
hanged. "You wonder if he screamed".
All images from the film which is available as an
extra on the Dilemma DVD. Oz with Zakes Mokae appearing in two episodes, Animal Farm and Escape from Oz
(2.7 and 2.8), in this series about Oswald Maximum
Security Penitentiary (called Oz). Directed by Mary Harron and Jean
de Segonzac in 1998. The series covers the prisoners and staff with interlocking stories
which span episodes.
In Animal Farm a new prisoner,
faith healer/witch doctor Kipkemei Jara, played by Zakes Mokae,
collects his prison clothes.
The episode is reasonably light hearted with an elderly prisoner
needing money to help his grandson who has leukemia and the prisoners
eventually each donating the money to him. But in Escape from Oz the
tone changes radically with a paedophile priest crucified on the gym
floor...
... a prison guard with his eyes gouged out, and a prisoner will his
legs and arms all broken. Mokae's story plays out in Escape from Oz. He was convicted for
criminally negligent homicide as part of a voodoo ceremony and tries to convert prisoner
Simon Adebisi, played by
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.
Initially he is rejected but gradually
Jara´s power, shown through flashbacks to voodoo
ceremonies, wins over Adebisi. This threatens the
established criminal order, and Jara is stabbed to death.
The result is that Adebisi starts to hear the Yoruba drums in his head
and strips and dances a tribal dance. He is seen as mad but he does find
some inner peace.
All images from the film.
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