A Dry White Season (1989)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Euzhan Palcy

Writers (WGA):

Andre Brink (novel)
Colin Welland (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

20 September 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Thriller

Plot:

Ben du Toit is a schoolteacher who always has considered himself a man of caring and justice, at least on the individual level...

Plot Keywords:

Dead Children | Apartheid | Police Brutality | South Africa | 1970s

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Donald Sutherland	...	Ben du Toit
Janet Suzman	...	Susan du Toit
Zakes Mokae	...	Stanley Makhaya
Jürgen Prochnow	...	Captain Stolz (as Jurgen Prochnow)
Susan Sarandon	...	Melanie Bruwer
Marlon Brando	...	Ian McKenzie
Winston Ntshona	...	Gordon Ngubene
Thoko Ntshinga	...	Emily Ngubene
Leonard Maguire	...	Bruwer
Gerard Thoolen	...	Colonel Viljoen
Susannah Harker	...	Suzette du Toit
Andrew Whaley	...	Chris
Rowen Elmes	...	Johan du Toit
Stella Dickin	...	Susan's Mother
David de Keyser	...	Susan's Father (as David De Keyser)

Runtime:

97 min | West Germany:107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | Iceland:16 | Singapore:PG | West Germany:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Davros Films

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When the camera pulls away from the court house (Harare City Hall) a bus drives past displaying an advertisement for Balkan Bulgarian Airlines, which flew to Zimbabwe, but not to South Africa under apartheid during the 1970s.

Movie Connections:

Featured in In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid (1993)

Soundtrack:

UNOMATHEMBA

Accurate but incomplete portrayal of the old South Africa

If you want to understand what the old South Africa could be like at its worst, this movie accurately portrays it. Well acted and only slightly over-dramatized, it gives you the sense of how the ruling culture was blind to its own injustices. Those who oppose the main character from within his own family make some valid points, and that makes it all the more chilling.

As someone who lived in South Africa until shortly before the year this movie is set in (and was forced to leave because I opposed apartheid), I can't fault the authenticity of this movie but I want to caution viewers not to form all your opinions of white South Africans from this type of film. There is a good side to every culture, but it is harder to portray and doesn't always make great box office.

If this movie leaves you hating anyone, you are taking away the wrong message. If it leaves you realizing this could happen anywhere, and ordinary good people can easily find themselves on the wrong side in situations like this, that is the right message to take away.