Bizet′s 19th century libretto Carmen endures because of its timeless, and endlessly adaptable, themes of love, lust, revenge, violence, and power. The story of Carmen is transplanted to a modem South African township, a dynamic space both visually and narratively, by theater director Mark Domford-May, the Dimpho Di Kopane musical company, and thousands of citizens in the township where the film was shot-a township where unemployment runs at 38% and most of the residents live below the poverty line. This Carmen is a cigarette factory worker, a sensuous and independent woman who takes a shine to the new cop Jongi, and like the Carmen of the opera, seduces her lover and winds up destroying them both. Translated into the local Xhosa dialect by Pauline Malefane and Andiswa Kedama, Dornford-May explains, "It goes beyond people′s conventions and notions of an opera film. The company tells it with such veracity and truth that it is nothing like those over-stylized opera films, which were all about incredible setting and amazing costumes."