Felix 2013

13-year-old Felix Xaba dreams of becoming a jazzman like his late father, Zweli, a famous saxophonist in his day. His mother, Lindiwe, fears that her son will follow in his dad’s footsteps in the worst way—wasting his life in taverns and spiraling into drink. She bans jazz from their home, branding it the devil’s music, and Felix, keeping his love for music alive, plays his pennywhistle in secret and keeps his fingers crossed for a chance to prove himself.

When a scholarship to a private school changes everything, Felix leaves the familiar township world where his siblings and friends crown him king, and steps into a judgmental, elitist environment where he is treated as a pitiful nobody. There, a gang of bullies, led by Junior Junior, makes his life miserable and humiliating on a daily basis. Yet Felix finds a fragile comfort in the company of Bra Joe, a drunken old busker who plays sax outside the tavern and who once shared stages with his father’s old band, The Bozza Boys, the legendary jazz outfit that once burned bright in the Cape.

An audition notice for the school jazz concert becomes the spark Felix needed to reclaim his self-worth. The roadblocks are steep: he fails the first audition because he can’t read music or play the sax. But Mrs. Cartwright, Felix’s English teacher, persuades the music teacher to give him a second chance. With a stubborn determination, Felix returns, and armed with his dad’s old sax, he seeks help from Bra Joe, who in turn ropes in Fingers Fortuin, another aging ex-Bozza Boy, to coach the boy.

Together they embark on a crash course in saxophone for Zweli’s son, and Felix learns not only how to wield the instrument, but also his musical roots and the story of his father’s past. When Lindiwe discovers that the drunken busker is coaching Felix on her late husband’s sax, she explodes in fury, pawns the sax, and forbids Felix any contact with Joe or with jazz at all. Undeterred, Felix goes behind his mother’s back, tracks down all the surviving Bozza Boys, and with Joe’s help, convinces them to reunite for a jazz fundraiser in the tavern so he can reclaim his father’s sax from the pawnshop.

The fundraiser turns into a roaring success. Felix buys back the sax and arrives at the audition with renewed confidence, surprising Mr. Murray and stepping into the school concert with a surge of pride and joy. He is on top of the world, but then he must face the moment of truth: he announces to Lindiwe that there will be a surprise encore dedicated to his late father, Tata Zweli, and to his mother, who is only a little late to share in the moment. A trumpet sounds offstage, and Felix leads the Bozza Boys onto the stage for a foot-stomping, show-stopping number that even moves Mr. Murray and Mrs. Cartwright to dance in the aisle.

As the finale crescendos, Lindiwe’s emotions overflow—she ululates in the front row, finally shining with pride. And in that moment, she is a happy mother, realizing that, like his father before him, Felix has become king of the sax.