Chase_Witherspoon Compelling fictional account of a teacher (Sutherland) who begins to delve into the clandestine methods of his local South African police force when the heavy handedness being meted out against the coloured population happens close to home. Sutherland's character is essentially colour-blind, and shocked to discover his friends, colleagues and even his wife are all afflicted by the stain of Apartheid, and unwilling to modify their views (for fear, retribution and in some cases, their racism).Brando has a relatively peripheral role as the human rights counsel, appearing in a puppet court where vicious establishment official Jurgen Prochnow is on trial for covert, racially-based atrocities. Prochnow is the film's sleeper role as the cold, merciless enforcer, while Ntshona playing Sutherland's key accomplice is also quite a defining character (some may recognise him from "The Wild Geese" in which he played the president in exile Julius Limbani). Susan Sarandon, Michael Gambon, Paul Brooke, John Kani and Ronald Pickup have smaller roles.There's a few unsettling moments and gathering tension in the manner in which Sutherland's character is perversely ostracised for his 'disloyalty', a pariah whose young son makes him vulnerable to retributions. It's a busy kind of movie with frequent scene interchanges, multiple minor characters and sub-plots but the narrative is pervasive and keeps you engaged.

rAjOo This movie as well as Goodbye Bafana are an eye-opener as to how right-winged regimes, including Canada, England, Australia, South Africa, and the United States of America, initiate their own kind to spy and destabilize the weak and the oppressed, using the power of the law, the judiciary, and prisons to silence and even deport/kill who dare to speak out against them.Witness the treatment of the people of the First Nations (Aboriginal Indians) in Canada itself. It is no longer a secret that Adolf Hitler had sent a team to witness the atrocities carried out on them, so that they then, in turn, ill-treat Jews, bringing into question as to whether or not it was just the Nazis, as a whole, who were responsible for the Holocaust.While ostensibly Canada claims to be a leader in 'human rights', the so-called 'Human Rights Commissions', headed by right-winged political appointees and queen's counsels, at both state and federal-level, have continued to 'not deal with' complaints with open impunity. Their main agenda is to promote and create a false scenario that there is no racism in Canada giving it (racial discrimination),bigotry and intolerance every opportunity to flourish without any checks.While naive and often ignorant politicians are quick to point out human rights' abuses in developing countries, they turn a nelson's eye on violations carried out by the Government (all 3 levels, federal, state and local municipalities), local police services, unions, landlords, & c.. Some of these municipalities, and police services continue as exclusive clubs of the mainstream even in modern day Canada.Many are fooled by the 'greener' pastures of North America, and it is only after they live here for sometime that most visible minorities come to know that they are ranked as second-class citizens, just as their Aboriginal brothers and sisters, with just one right - the right to complain - and then be ignored, spoken to condescendingly, subjected to delays, technicalities, bureaucratic corruption and inefficiency, and never be heard.Lawyers (some of who end up as Judges) often refuse to represent visible minorities/aboriginals, very subtly and with a variety of frivolous reasons, in 'human rights' matters, compounding the problem even more, and thereby forcing many to give up their fight for their rights, while others end up in despair with emotional scars that never heal.Many are not even aware that Canada is not even a democracy, but a Constitutional Monarchy.Many have also realized that Apartheid-like conditions continue to persist in modern day Canada.Hate groups, which got a boost after the terrorists attacks of September 11, 2001, as well as following the election of Barrack Obama, now total to around 1000 in the United States alone.Clearly law and justice are two distant cousins who have not been on speaking terms, and both continue to be misapplied when it comes to a person's racial origin.As for the Office of the Ombudsman, the less said the better. There is virtually no accountability or even a monitoring authority on this so-called impartial office, created initially as a watch-dog for the people, but has now been reduced to a fierce government guard dog. It is no wonder that it is commonly referred to as the office of 'all show and no go'.As for 'Civil Liberty' organizations, mostly dependent on government grants and funding, are reduced to mere paper tigers, with little or no active involvement to improve laws that benefit vulnerable Canadians, leaving politicians, and government (all 3 levels) officials to carry on breaking a variety of laws with open impunity. A number of these 'civil rights' organizations are chaired by right-winged queen's counsels, and have a vested interest in maintaining a status quo at the expense of vulnerable Canadians.Kindness and compassion are a thing of the past. Period.It is thus rightly said "The true measure of society is how they treat their most vulnerable".

PhilipChandler This movie explores apartheid and the monstrous injustices perpetrated against non-white South Africans by that system from the perspective of Ben du Toit (Donald Sutherland), a well-respected history teacher of Afrikaans heritage (white South Africans are primarily Afrikaans (of Dutch descent) or of British descent). Ben du Toit is portrayed as a decent, law-abiding man who investigates the death of his gardener, Gordon Ngubene (Winston Ntshona). Ngubene dies in police custody while investigating the circumstances that led to his son first being whipped across the buttocks and then being killed by the police. At first, du Toit merely approaches the police in good faith, politely expressing concern to Colonel Viljoen (Gerard Thoolen) and Captain Stolz (Jurgen Prochnow) together with the observation that human errors do occur, even at South African police headquarters.With the aid of Stanley Makhaya (Zakes Mokae), du Toit gathers evidence revealing, unambiguously, that the police had tortured and murdered Ngubene in scenes of stomach-turning cruelty. Du Toit goes through profound psychological turmoil as he realizes that the government and the police in which he had placed so much faith were instruments in the service of massive oppression, made all the more personally horrifying in that this oppression had allowed du Toit and others like him to live their lives in relative comfort and complacency, never having to observe the brutality and barbaric actions taken in the service of preserving that comfortable lifestyle, yet alone having to account for it. With the aid of British reporter Melanie Bruwer (Susan Sarandon), du Toit gather sufficient evidence to bring criminal charges against the "Special Branch" of the South African Police.Barrister Ian McKenzie (Marlon Brando) agrees to take du Toit's case, knowing in advance that the case will never succeed. Brando steals the show as he informs du Toit that the law and justice are "second cousins," and that in South Africa they are "simply not on speaking terms." The courtroom scenes are riveting, as McKenzie slowly but brutally exposes the horrifying manner in which Ngubene was murdered. Viewers should be prepared for a chilling account of the state of Ngubene's body as, for the first time during the trial, McKenzie raises his voice and lambasts the "Special Branch" for their handiwork.Unknown to du Toit, his wife Susan du Toit (wonderfully portrayed by Janet Suzman) had sneaked into the courtroom to watch the proceedings. The reaction of du Toit's family is mixed -- daughter Suzette du Toit (Susannah Harker) and wife Susan are furious with Ben, who is supported only by his son Johan (Rowen Elmes). In a scene that is profoundly disturbing precisely because of the sincerity of her beliefs and the validity of some of the points that she makes, Susan compares life in South Africa to life during a time of war, and exhorts Ben to choose the side of his people. She grapples with her conscience as she acknowledges that she does not believe that everything that the police does is right, bur she is adamant in her determination that Ben must reject the viewpoint of the black majority, even if that means rejecting the truth. She does not even try to hide her racism as she complains about not wanting Gordon's ghost to haunt her house; how she does not want "any of these kaffirs" in her house ever again, echoing daughter Suzette's comments about the newspaper photograph of Ben and widow Emily Ngubene leaving the courtroom ("Pa! You with a kaffir woman! You look like lovers!").Having failed to bring the government to account in criminal proceedings, du Toit decides to file a civil suit. He is supported in this endeavor by Stanley, Melanie, and his son Johan. However, against the backdrop of approaching Christmas, matters are fast spinning out of control. He is fired from his job as a teacher on the pretext of having missed too many classes. When he dismisses this pretext and demands to know why he has been fired, du Toit is informed by the headmaster that it is "a matter of loyalties." When the headmaster informs him that it would be better were Johann not to re-enroll at the beginning of the next term, stating that the school does not need traitors, du Toit literally backhands him across the face in what is certainly one of the movie's most satisfying moments.Stanley arrives at the du Toit residence on Christmas Day, stinking drunk. Emily Ngubebe has been killed -- she died trying to prevent her children from being deported to Zululand (one of the "Bantustans" created under apartheid). The Christmas party is ruined as du Toit's few remaining friends leave in disgust and outrage, and Susan leaves the house, uttering the thoughts that had, until that moment, been unstated by so many of du Toit's Afrikaaner friends ("What a pretty picture! A drunken kaffir and an Afrikaaner traitor. You deserve each other.") Events lead to a bitter climax in the remainder of this movie. Realizing that there is no longer time to file a civil suit, du Toit has to find a way of handing all of the evidence that he has uncovered (most of it in the form of affidavits) to the liberal South African newspaper ("The Rand Daily Mail," which was indeed a liberal paper until it closed shortly before the writer left the country). In a scene of searing sadness, du Toit relies on the knowledge that his daughter Suzette will betray him to send the police on the chase of a decoy.In terms of authenticity, this movie's faults are minor. Flaws in accent are minor in what is otherwise an incredibly sad unveiling of the human suffering beneath the lies; of the savagery that permitted du Toit and all white South Africans to live as they lived; and of the personal cost to those who were brave enough to dissent.

jotix100 Apartheid gripped South Africa for many years. One heard the news with total disbelief, as things got worse in that country. Euzhan Palcy has brought Andre Brink's novel to the screen making a statement along the way about what was wrong in South Africa under the brutal repression of those that dared to make a stand.The carnage one sees in the film is hard to take. Especially, since one occurrence is directed to innocent children who are trying to make a stand about education. At the time, the white establishment labeled communist all those that dared oppose the ruling class. It's ironic that after things got to be democratic, those same rebels didn't turn the country into a communist state.The story centers on a white teacher that suddenly awakens to what is happening around him. His involvement comes through his gardener, Gordon, who is a decent man. When the gardener's son is arrested, Gordon turns to Ben for help. That will mark the beginning of Ben's passive attitude toward apartheid. By trying to help, Ben will be a marked man, a traitor to his people, according to even his own family.Donald Sutherland makes an excellent Ben, the former football star and teacher. We watch him as he gets deeply involved in his quest for justice in a land where it was unknown. Zakes Mokae, an immensely talented actor of stage and screen, plays Stanley the man that serves as a link between the struggling faction and Ben. Jurgen Prochnow plays the sadistic Capt. Stolz conveying all the cruelty and arrogance of the man. Janet Suzman is Ben's wife, a woman who doesn't want to see any changes in her cushy life.The surprise of the film is the appearance of Marlon Brando in a small, but pivotal role of Ian McKenzie, a barrister that brings the case to a court of justice, but it's defeated by the system. Mr. Brando made a tremendous contribution to the film.Ms. Palcy's film is a reminder of the injustice perpetuated in South Africa under the apartheid rule.