Such a frustrating disappointment

not as good as all the hype

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

The entire film is a lie. The film is dedicated to Joe Slovo, portrayed in the movie as 'Head of ANC Special Ops', when in actual fact he was the leader of the South African Communist Party, and a Marxist and terrorist through and through. At one point, an ANC 'cadre' instructs his trainees that 'the ANC does not kill indiscriminately', when in actual fact all those thugs ever did was murder civilians in their quest to seize power and reduce South Africa to another Stalinist hellhole. The ANC, and specifically Mandela and Slovo were behind the infamous 'Church Street bombing', that saw a bomb detonated in rush hour Pretoria, killing and maiming scores of innocent men and women - both black and white. The image of Mandela that has been sold to the gullible West has been one of a peaceful uniter, when in actual fact he schooled his followers in the teachings of Marx and Lenin, counts Fidel Castro as a close friend, and has the blood of many people - black and white - on his hands. Both Mandela and Joe Slovo are nothing more than garden variety Marxist thugs, and no amount of revisionist film making will change that.

I thought story was very entertaining and seemed accurate (I wasn't there) but I disagreed with former comment that Tim Robbins wasn't (or whites in general) racist. The fact that blacks were routinely and deliberately treated as virtually "sub-human" would seem to indicate that the culture in general was RACIST. Adolph Ikeman espoused he was doing "his job" - he wasn't anti Semitic, they just happened to be Jewish!?! Anyway, it is a very good film and the cinematography was excellent - way to go Ron F. I thought the main characters were given their own flaws, just as real people are not all good or bad, and therefore influenced their actions and consequences to themselves & others.

A powerful story well told in skillful hands. Philip Noyce, of Rabbitproof Fence fame, once again takes a story of oppression and just tells the story, without apportioning blame or taking sides. The script is marvellous and the acting uniformly good. Tim Robbins and Derek Lucas both affecting near-flawless South African accents, take the male leads and put in outstanding roles. Tim Robbins as the Afrikaner cop is a character difficult to understand, at one point he takes his prisoner home for Sunday dinner with his family and in another scene oversees the beating-up and torture of innocent people. Derek Lucas is equally good as a man who's only interest lies with his family and job before being arrested and ultimately backed into a course of action that he could not have foreseen. Michelle Botes and Bonnie Mbuli are both excellent South African actresses who play the respective wives, Bonnie Mbuli in particular putting in a very affecting role as the wife who stands by helplessly as her husband spirals into a new life which does not include her or her children. H

This film deals with an apolitical black man in apartheid South Africa, who is pulled into the fray against the gov't after he is falsely accuse of terrorism by the head of anti-terrorism in the South African govt. This film is beautiful. The cinematography is excellent, the relationship between Patrick and his family is shown well, and we are made to see that Patrick is a good guy, with a good job, who just wants to be a father and husband and nothing more.We also see Tim Robbins and his family and how he deals the omnipresent threat of violence from the people he is apart of oppressing. He is shown as a human character, he loves his wife and kids, he sings folk songs, and he runs a South African Guantanamo bay; hes a bad man.I cried at one point in the movie, and was interested throughout, the pacing was good. There just seemed to be something missing from it. I mean it was a pretty good movie, I just felt like there was another 20 minutes that belonged in the movie. I didn't quite feel like it was enough.Also the narration towards the end of the movie seemed a little stiff to me, as if Derek Luke wasn't comfortable reading it with an accent so he delivered it really choppy. Thats very minor.Having said all of that its definitely worth seeing. People will say its a movie about terrorism and I guess in one sense it is. But Americans have such a distorted view of terrorism. Its like if you are a group of people in a country fighting and you don't have an official army with tanks and planes you are a terrorist. But if you have a real army with tanks and planes you aren't a terrorist and if you blow things up its not terrorism. Terrorist/terrorism is a political word and this movie proves it.