Crash movies at Berlin fest expose young countries' rifts

BERLIN (AFP) - Fatal car crashes lay bare social tensions in two very different countries in upheaval, South Africa and Romania, in new movies in competition at the 63rd Berlin film festival on Monday.

Layla Fourie, a thriller about a single black mother in post-apartheid South Africa, and Child's Pose, centred on a wealthy son in Romania after communism, see both protagonists trying to pick up the pieces after deadly car accidents they caused.

Tired of working odd jobs, Layla is pleased to land a steady position at a casino that uses lie detector tests to vet potential employees.

But while en route with her young son from Johannesburg to her new place of employment, her car hits a white man on a dark road.