A South African Story of Truth, Love and Reconcilliation...
In 1996, the South African government established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate abuses of human rights under apartheid. These hearings would serve as a forum for those accused of murder and torture to be confronted by their victims and, by admitting their guilt, be granted amnesty under Ubuntu, the native custom of forgiveness.
Langston Whitfield (Samuel L. Jackson) is a Washington Post journalist. His editor provocatively sends him to South Africa to cover the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, in which the perpetrators of murder and torture on both sides during the Apartheid era are invited to come forward and confront their victims. By telling the unvarnished truth and expressing contrition, they may be granted amnesty.
Can the deep wounds of Apartheid be healed through reconciliation? Langston is deeply sceptical. He tracks down Col. De Jager, the most notorious torturer in the SA Police and tries to penetrate the mind of a monster, an experience that obliges him to confront his own demons.
Anna Malan (Juliette Binoche), is an Afrikaans poet who is covering the hearings for radio. As a white South African she is shattered by the accounts of the cruelty and depravity committed by her fellow countrymen. Anna and Langston must both question their sense of identity. Where do they each belong? How responsible are they for what is done in the name of their respective countries? The moving testimony of the victims affects them deeply. In different ways they are both estranged from their families, and their shared experience draws them ever closer to each other. It is a story charting the unfathomable depths of human cruelty and the redeeming power of forgiveness and love.
Covering the sessions are Langston Whitfield (Academy Award-nominee Samuel L. Jackson, Best Supporting Actor, Pulp Fiction, 1994) and Anna Malan (Academy Award-winner Juliette Binoche, Best Supporting Actress, The English Patient, 1996), two journalists who, through their reporting, inspire both the world and themselves with these extraordinary stories about courage, compassion and the redeeming power of love. Directed by Academy Award-nominee John Boorman (Deliverance, 1972; Hope and Glory, 1987). Based on the book "Country of My Skull" by Antjie Krog.
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