Michael Matthews delivers an impressive debut in the vein of beloved Westerns, a David and Goliath allegory about colonialism, coming home and living out your fate, set in the striking South African landscape.

In apartheid South Africa, young Tau is a member of the “Five Finger” posse: a group of rebellious kids with slingshots and a deep-seated desire to protect their rural town of Marseilles from its white oppressors. After the police forcefully remove Tau’s crush he strikes back, and his reaction leaves him no choice but to flee.

Twenty years later, Tau (played by popular South African actor Vuyo Dabula) is back, intending to make peace with himself and to reconnect with what is left of his childhood gang. But Tau has returned to a different Marseilles, this time held captive by the new regime, and he and the Fingers must once again face off with the forces that threaten their home.