edwagreen While John Malkovich gives a terrific performance as the dismissed professor, who had a relationship with a student in his romantic poetry class, the film should have stayed with that subject matter. Instead, it goes on to detail his move to the Eastern Cape to live with his daughter in a remote area. They're victimized by local natives in the town and the daughter is pregnant from one of the 3 men who raped her.In other words, Malkovich undergoes the performance of one who tormented a woman only to find himself tormented when his daughter is molested.His daughter's insistence on entering an unusual alliance to avoid an abortion is most perplexing.I enjoyed his lecture of Lucifer in the poetry class. Wasn't he describing himself?

benway9 Are you kidding me? How can a more ludicrous movie plot exist? Ha Ha Ha. So the lesbian star is F'd up beyond belief. Malkavich should leave that trailer trash moron to her own fate or better yet she should take her own life.And those punk ass thugs? Just kill them. Maybe the dogs could mutilate them. The complicit farmer guy? Kill him too. Ha HA HA stupid! Are people nuts? If those people truly have those values in their culture - intense acid rain and out of control rhinos is the best answer.A sickening waste of time.Okay the sociopath professor was moderately interesting and the repentance to the family was alright.But really, just grind up those South African gang banger rapists in a meat grinder.I am a fool for watching that piece of shi* movie.Malkovich: You let me down.Uuugg.

putYourHandsUp All of us have to suffer the indignities of life, even our ultimate fate of death. What we can do is choose how we deal with the cards we are dealt. This movie examines people's reactions to injustices and to life itself.David is an English Lit professor, who has long since accepted his sexual desires as being part of his nature, being comfortable to make use of prostitutes, accepting that he was not "made for marriage". On a whim he strikes up a sexual relationship with one of his students. For this indiscretion and for falsifying some records for her benefit, he is faced with disciplinary action from his Goliath - the university board.Knowing that there is nothing much he can do, he completely submits to their charges, accepting guilt without bothering to even examine the charges, no matter the consequences, leaving prudence to the wind. In this he is quite defiant and dignified. An admirable reaction.Ironically Melanie, the object of his desires, a limp participant who seems to just let things happen to her, suffers no long term effects and ends up as a successful actress.Her father's reaction is one of refined indignation. He and David's dignified interaction, and David's ultimate plea for forgiveness lends some honor to the story. Prostrating himself before Melanie's mother was excessive but admirable.David's relationship with, and support of his daughter Lucy also makes for an interesting story. Lucy quietly yet forcefully accepts her fate. Both the departure of her lesbian lover and the rape at the hands of 3 young men, she takes ownership of, quietly accepting, yet drawing boundaries where she can, making pragmatic choices. Often disheveled and fragile, she makes for riveting viewing and empathy. Like the flower-grower/seller she is, she brings a fragile and ephemeral beauty to the world. Interesting line: after her rape she finds David partially burned and the first thing she says is "What on Earth have they done to you?!" David's support of her choices, even ones that bring him to tears, is heartwarming.David's relationship with Rosalind shows him capable of deeper, gentle love, more than the superficial sex he has with others.Rosalind herself is the caring executioner. By watching her we have to face our own ultimate fate. Will we also die like dogs, and will we be disposed of with the same care she gives her charges? Manas, the man who shares Lucy's life in an unusually superficial, pragmatic fashion, is a study in doing the right thing for the sake of the community. He is the builder, building physical shelters for his wife and metaphorical shelter for Lucy. Doggedly insisting that things must move on, that everything will be all right, that the time will come.This movie asks you: how do you handle the injustices of life? Uncaring like Melanie, gently like Rosalind, with pragmatical simplicity like Manas, with desperate acceptance like Lucy, with defiant dignity like David? There is a lot more you can find in this movie. It is worth seeing more than once.The title is an enigma. Where is the Disgrace? In life itself? In our inability to shape our futures with much effect?

jdeureka "Disgrace" is a modern classic about South Africa. It is thoughtful yet disturbing, rich with emotion but grating, fertile yet ravaging. This is no place for pussy cats. It is exhilaratingly realistic, laced with romantic sentiment and veined by the theme of adamantine loyalty – an excellent movie. It puts the older well-intentioned but unctuous films about South Africa – like the adaptations of "Cry the Beloved Country" – to shame for their naiveté."Disgrace" is a story with a hard parable: wolves eat dogs. In spite of the fact that in the film's DVD "bonus" section there so much talk about being "forward looking" and positive; far more than these feel-good qualities is the story's demand for survival, the need to adapt to the environment (regardless of its warmth or gentle, amiable qualities).On one level "Disgrace" is "Ryan's Daughter" without romance but a hell of a feeling. In terms of actors & characters it's first rate. Malkovich is perfectly cast as the self-indulgent & Byronically self-destructive university professor. Nathalie Becker is ace perfect in tone and body; sexual but not sexy, fertile yet dry. She is the land of South Africa. In opposition & complement is the brilliant black actor Eriq Ebouaney, the power of whose character grows on you like a root of meaning taking hold. His grace & subtlety as an actor in the demanding role he plays gives new depth to the otherwise over-used theme of identity politics."Disgrace" is a worthy, worrying film; far more gritty docudrama than bloodless fiction.