A Dry White Season (1989)

Schoolteacher Ben du Toit (Donald Sutherland) has been insulated all his life from the horrors of apartheid in his native South Africa. Perhaps he really didn't want to know. When the son of his black gardener is arrested and beaten as a result of a schoolboy protest in Soweto at first he imagines the police must have had their reasons. However the boy is picked up again and this time he doesn't come back. Ben promises his servant that he will look into the incident and discovers that the boy was killed simply to gratify the violent urges of Captain Stolz (Jurgen Prochnow) a "special branch" policeman. At long last he has gotten a glimpse into the truly arbitrary and violent nature of the system he has so long benefited from and he hires Ian Mackenzie (Marlon Brando) to prosecute the killer. It is a foregone conclusion that Stolz will not be punished but Mackenzie rises to new heights of withering sarcasm and irony in the courtroom. This situation turns Ben into a radical firebrand which alienates him from his white friends and neighbors as well as members of his family.System Requirements: Running Time 107 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 027616125385 Manufacturer No: 12538 Product Description

Brilliant example of living history

The world now knows how the bigger part of this story played out. Nelson Mandela was freed, the ANC voted into power, and the Apartheid system dismantled. This made the sacrifices portrayed in this wonderful film all the more poignant. Donald Sutherland gave a great performance as the central hero, and the wonderful Marlon Brando, a whimsical, but impressive representation of the human rights lawyer, jaded by his past jousting with blind justice, but incapable of turning his back on the evils of South African Police state. The South African support cast are also impressive. The film is not a masterpiece, but it holds attention because of the power of the story, and the first class acting. One would have to have ice in their veins or be a dyed in the wool racist not to be moved to tears by the replaying of these dreadful crimes. September 9, 2007

and we're lost out here in the stars, little stars, big stars ...

almost an artifact today, as this pseudo costa-gavras take on south africas apartheid system is a bit heavy handed, but the power of donald sutherlands performance as a naive afrikaaners school teacher who awakens to the horrors of his comfortable sheltered life when a loyal family retainer is abducted and murdered by the police cannot be denied. while the character is a bit too naive to be credible, the impact of how he is betrayed by his friends and his own family (save for his young son, who is btw a very beautiful boy) raises the level. now interestingly, the main reason this movie is remembered at all is the greatest flaw in its structure: the overwhelming turn by marlon brando as an attorney who shows up mid-way thru the film, dominates it for half an hour, and then completely disappears into the vapors; brando gives one of his great late performances here -- but sadly it disjoints the movie. still, all in all, a worthy effort. June 11, 2007

Welcome to South Africa, Benjamin Du Toit.

Susan Surandon's cynical remark to Donald Sutherland, indicating that although he's lived all his life in South Africa, he was oblivoius to the brutality surrounding his normal family life. Schoolteacher Meneer Du Toit literally loses everything in his struggle to bring justice to those responsible for the deaths of his gardener and his gardener's son. Feeling guilty after taking his gardener's son's death a little too lightly, he is immediately swept up in the chaotic world of corruption and bloody cover-ups, after seeing the body of his badly beaten and tortured friend of 15 years.

The movie is full of gripping scenes and holds nothing back, with brutal slayings of children, torture scenes, and a disturbing view into a hospital mortuary. The film is primarily rated R for these violent images.

Marlon Brando, although appearing for maybe 15-20 minutes of the film, really takes over in his scenes, as slick barrister, Ian MacKenzie. Even though his courtroom battle is futile, he certainly gets in his licks. He played his character to a tee, and definitely deserved the Oscar nomination, despite the controversy that year, over his limited screen time.

I was much younger when I first rented the film around 1990, and it hits me harder today than it did back then. It's a well acted film, and a powerful one, Donald Sutherland gives and incredible perfomance and a particularly moving scene in the film is when he is in tears on the phone, speaking to his daughter, after finally realizing she has betrayed him. Except for his son, most of his family, friends, and colleagues do not wish to associate with him after the path his as chosen in fighting a losing battle against corruption. A top notch film about a man willing to give up everything, in pursuit of truth and justice over the wrongful death of a friend. This should be on everyone's must see list of important 80's films. February 10, 2006

Outstanding, powerful and moving

Ben du Toit is a schoolteacher who always has considered himself a man of caring and justice, at least on the individual level. When his gardener's son is brutally beaten up by the police at a demonstration by black school children, he gradually begins to realize his society is built on a pillar of injustice and exploitation.
This incredibly powerful film deals intelligently with the devastatingly brutal tensions surrounding the explosive issues within assumed class tiers and the racially incongruous tempest that was the violent melting pot of southern Africa.
Sutherland's performance is one of his finest, ably backed up by Susan Sarandon. October 9, 2005

Powerful and Moving

This film is beautiful and disturbing. I watched this originally as a junior in high school, 15 years ago; it's message has never left me. I give it extremely high accolades. June 28, 2005

More reviews at Amazon.com ...