Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Bad, bad, bad.Mediocre acting.Poor casting.Mediocre script; and in particular... unconvincing motivation of characters, leading to a multitude of questions like why did a particular character take one action instead of a different, and more logical action? Very little that anyone does in this story makes sense, apart from the actions of Melanie's parents and the College administrators.It is not convincing that Melanie would have anything to do with the rather repulsive college professor.(spoiler) I'm not convinced of Lurie's supposed reformation; to my eyes it is either meant to be fake or it's bad acting. (spoiler)I've not read the book, but I don't think I should have to; a filmed version of a book should be able to stand on its own. If it is necessary then the film has failed.Supposedly an allegory, but surely the point of an allegory is that a seemingly different story/circumstance can give insight into another, but when the allegory is as confused as this, then it just does not work on any level.

The only reason this movie gets a 3 is that the actors did a reasonable job with a completely unidentifiable storyline.The movie starts off setting a scene with a professor that has completely selfish motives and that karma seems to come back to bite him.But the bad decisions of both Malkovich's character and his daughter make. Even in the context of the story, let alone reality. I can't imagine anyone who is raped wanting to live anywhere near their rapists? Then also the decisions that are taken following the attack..This makes absolutely no sense at all.I have no idea how this movie was rated so high.

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?

After viewing the first five minutes, it dawned on me that I had read this book a few years ago. It is a little hard to identify with the central figure, played by the quirky Malkovich. He makes decisions without a moments thought for their consequences. It would seem that he has little if any regard for anyone. So when he disgraces himself with his totally unprofessional behavior, he finds himself in the South African countryside, in the middle of racial tension following the end of apartheid. What is happening is an uneasy meeting of the two cultures as David (played by Malkovich) moves in with his daughter and stumbles around in his arrogant stupor, causing her no end of pain. She has her own issues. She is ultimately gang raped by some of the local blacks but refuses to rock the boat. She has no place to go and finds herself disenfranchised. Malkovich is a coward when it comes down to it or he is just plain stupid or so shortsighted. Anyway, Coetzee tells a great tale with a chance for reclamation all around. it's a purification through suffering. The cultures need time to settle in and it won't be easy.