The Valley of a Thousand Hills is Netflix’s latest South African LGBTQ movie that brings to us two women who need to fight to gain their freedom. Directed by Bonie Sithebe, the film stars Sibongokuhle Nkosi, Mandisa Vilakazi, Wiseman Mncube, and Glen Gabela alongside other cast members.
The Valley of a Thousand Hills revolves around a young woman who comes from a conservative tribe and is the tribe chief’s daughter. However, she is expected to marry the man chosen by her father while she hides her relationship with the woman she loves.
Netflix’s synopsis of the movie reads:
IN A CONSERVATIVE VILLAGE COMMUNITY, A LOVING DAUGHTER MUST DECIDE BETWEEN THE POTENTIAL HUSBAND CHOSEN BY HER FATHER OR HER SECRET TRUE LOVE- A WOMAN.
The Valley of a Thousand Hills Ending Explained
Towards the end, Nosipho is unable to bear Thenjiwe’s absence and has decided to take a stand against everyone and accept her true self. She starts off by making it clear to Vika that it cannot work out between them no matter how hard she tries and decides to divorce him. She forgives him for all that has happened but being his wife is not possible.
She then tells her mother-in-law that she is going to Thenjiwe and has decided to leave the house. Leaving with her suitcase, she makes her way to the school where she is interning in a bright red suit to portray her new self and she finally takes a stand as a teacher.
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She makes the students more obedient and fixes up the classroom while putting up the poster that says “Love conquers all” on the wall firmly which portrays the new her who believes in these words now. After class, she makes her way to Thenjiwe in order to bring her back but the latter refuses her.
She makes her realise all the things that she had done for her selfish reasons and is not ready to go back with her. Nosipho does not say much and goes to her father and tells him everything that she had kept hidden in her heart this whole time. However, her father is angered by this and shuts the door behind him while leaving her standing outside.
She does not mind this and makes her way to the half-built house that Thenjiwe has left behind and slept with a smile that is freer than ever. The next morning she wakes up to find Thenjiwe next to her and is rejoiced to know that her lover has forgiven her.
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The two then finish building the house of their dreams and lay inside to start off their new life. However, one night a car suddenly pulls over and Thenjiwe recognises the voice as Zenzele’s whom she has a fight at a bar and a group of men break inside the house.
He has come to steal their stuff but is rejoiced to find Thenjiwe there with Nosipho and now wants to take his revenge on her. He then changes his plan and kills Thenjiwe while Nosipho’s effort to save her goes to vain as the shock leaves her insane.
With screams of Nosipho echoing in the valley, the scene shifts to her painting the house with bright red and white colours while calling out to Thenjiwe and motioning her to follow inside. As the night falls, she is then seen lying on top of a grave with belongs to her love.
What did you think of the movie? Let us know in the comments below!
Watch The Valley of a Thousand Hills on Netflix.
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What you wrote about the ending is not at all what was shown. The movie clearly shows Thenjiwe being raped. The guy says they are going to take turns on her. The movie shows him raping her not killing her. Nosipho breaks free from the male holding her and somehow falls. I suppose the movie wants us to believe somehow she hit her head and passed out. The next scene is of Nosipho painting the house – which looks more like a flashback or future (heaven) feel to it making you believe someone is dead. And then, you see Nosipho laying on a grave – I guess it belongs to Thenjiwe. So this whole ending you are describing that she goes crazy, etc. is not portrayed at all. The ending is weak, unclear, and is lacking. Did Thenjiwe die from being gang raped, was she actually also murdered after being raped? None of this was shown or clear. You are just writing something that is non existent in the movie.
Girl calm down it’s never that deep. At the end of the day Thenjiwe is dead….
Anyways you did great on the article!
Um, it IS that deep. Articles should be accurate.
So true as for me the ending was confusing had to play it over and over, I think the end is boring
The last five minutes was brutal to me, first time watching it, broke down crying when she died ????
I agree with Lady bug, although her deliverance may not be what most like, it is her perception of the art as Riya is her own. I seen it in the way Lady bug did as well as what she is describing but I also see Riya’s view in Nosipho going “insane”. It does leave one to wonder what actually happened to Thenjiwe and in the scene were Nosipho is on the grave I was left wondering if she had killed herself by eating the poisonous flower Thenjiwe warned her of or if it left her unconscious.
I partly agree with Lady Bug, we don’t know how Thenjiwe dies and I’m not sure where the insane part comes from. I think the crucial part is that Nosipho is talking to Thenjiwe outside the house in what appears after the incident…my partial assumption is that Nosipho is fixing it up after it was partially destroyed by the 3 men and at this point Thenjiwe is already passed…why? First of all, the house before the incident is shown to us in twilight all finished and already painted that way. Secondly, because in that scene she is asking Thenjiwe to follow her inside as it is finished now and in the window’s reflection to the right you can see Thenjiwe’s reflection but she doesn’t in physical form follow Nosipho inside when Nosipho saids let’s go inside. In my opinion, Thenjiwe is there in spirit form and Nosipho decides to take her own life. I think seeing Thenjiwe reflected in the window is a crucial piece to this ending and makes it so heart wrenching.
Sha raises a good point about Thenjiwe being there in spirit because of the reflection in the right window. Having said that, I can believe the viewpoint that Nosipho may have gone insane. I say this because:
A) When Nosipho wakes up and she “sees” Thenjiwe, Thenjiwe is wearing a yellow dress. The last time us as viewers saw Thenjiwe in that outfit is when she fled to the house after her brother found them in bed together. When Thenjiwe was forced to go to the sangomas, she was in the same outfit as the reflection in the window at the end – jeans and a top.
Also, it seems as though Thenjiwe began a new relationship with the girl she met at the sangoma’s place. Even when she spoke to Nosipho, she didn’t really care as much and spoke about what they had in the past tense. This says to me that Thenjiwe moved on and was happy in an environment where she wasn’t seen as crazy/possessed. I believe Thenjiwe chose to stay there.
B) Another reason I don’t think Thenjiwe returned is because we never hear Thenjiwe talk since she supposedly “went back” to Nosipho. She’s always quiet – which isn’t like her. It’s more spirit-like. Nosipho just keeps talking by herself.
C) When the rape happened, they show us Nosipho breaking free from one of the guys and Thenjiwe being raped. Again, we don’t hear her speak. But if you put on the subtitles, it shows that it was Nosipho screaming – not Thenjiwe. Perhaps in Nosipho’s continued state of insanity, she thought she witnessed Thenjiwe being raped when in reality it was her.
D) Since the house was done by the time there was a grave, it leads me to believe that Nosipho killed herself with the fruit that Thenjiwe had said not to eat earlier in the movie. The grave belonged to Thenjiwe, I just don’t know if she really died or if Nosipho finally realised that Thenjiwe wasn’t there and the heartbreak led her to commit suicide.
Either way, while it was beautiful to see Nosipho finally come into her own – it was such a sad ending.
wow.
I loved the movie and I love how the healer said she was born that way. I think it is true that Thenjiwe was there. She had hard feelings at first but at the end of the day she knew Nosipho was her true love and decided to come back to her. They also said earlier in the movie that they’d find their way back to the house. It would make sense that Thenjiwe got raped because she slapped Zenzele earlier in the movie and he wanted to get revenge on her because all the men (besides Thenjiwe’s father) are egotistical ass holes that only see specific gender roles/sexualities as acceptable.
I think he raped her then killed her even though he probably initially only planned on stealing from her. Seeing them laid up together gave him the momentum to rape and kill her since he couldn’t have her. I think this drove Nosipho crazy. So she imagined them working on the house and finishing it together even though she finished it by herself. I think after she finished the house she decided to eat the flower and die with her love like Romeo and Juliet, a tragic love story or a love story gone wrong, or a love that could never be, etc.
The poster she put on the was said “love conquers all… even death” even in their death they proved that love is real and meaningful even if everyone makes you feel crazy for loving in a non traditional way…
Very sad ending ????
Beautiful movie, but a little too short as some scenes didn’t connect well in explaining the whole story or allow for a deeper understanding of the characters’ lives. But I enjoyed watching the movie.
They both died remember when Thenjiwe told Nosipho about that poisonous plant
In the end I saw her with the very same plant eaten on the side meaning after The death of Thenjiwe, Nosipho finished the home, painted it and decided to die next to the love of her life. That was a sad ending ????