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In My Country

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In My Country (2005)

March. 11,2005
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6
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R
| Drama Romance
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An American reporter and an Afrikaans poet meet and fall in love while covering South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings.

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Reviews

AniInterview
2005/03/11

Sorry, this movie sucks

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Dotbankey
2005/03/12

A lot of fun.

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Ginger
2005/03/13

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

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Dana
2005/03/14

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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munitzs
2005/03/15

This is one of the worst examples of the Hollywood dumb-down syndrome.Made on a shoestring budget and in what looks like about 3 months from inception to release, it is a cheap and cynical film.The book by Antjie Krog is a must-read: A deeply moving relating of the TRUE experiences related to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and Ms Krog's very personal reactions to it. It's not fiction.But by mixing silly fictional stories (such as midnight investigation of torture cells, carjackings, etc) with the genuine tragedies, the real stories have been cheapened and one wonders which is real and which is made up. This is a gross dismissal of the real pain of the victims and their families, and the real evil of the perpetrators.The problems with this movie are never ending, and include: 1. Script - very badly written. Storyline was dumbed down with the inclusion of fictional issues, dialogue is atrocious.2. Direction - probably the worst of Boorman's career.3. Lighting - looks like they could only afford 1 klieg and used it all the time to get maximum value.4. Acting - Binoche's accent kept slipping (why they couldn't use a South African for the role is a puzzle), support actors were in the main poor, Jackson was just OK.6. Sound - not even up to the standard of a first-year film school project.8. Editing - bits and pieces picked up off the editing room floor and glued together. It looks like a first cut, and it probably was.7. Production - the producers must ultimately take the blame for this abortion. They took a deeply moving, thoughtful and true book and turned it into a bad b-movie without the car chases and explosions.READ THE BOOK, and avoid the movie.

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michel-crolais
2005/03/16

A black journalist of Washington Post, Langton Whitfield; is sent by provocation by his boss to South Africa in order to "cover" the auditions of proceedings named Truth and Reconciliation Commission, that must decide if murders and torture authors can be amnestied if they say truth on act that they have made and express regrets in face of their victims. Langston encounters a young Afrikaner woman who follows also for South African radio the same sessions. She discovers the horror of Apartheid politics and she is bowled over by these facts. In these circumstances, Langston and Anna bring closer together. It is the story of the deep of human cruelty and also of the power of love and forgetting. The movie is dramatic and well played by Samuel L. Jackson and Juliette Binoche, but seems to be a little too oriented and melodramatic.

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jotix100
2005/03/17

John Boorman, an interesting film maker, takes us to South Africa after Apartheid. Right after the country underwent the big change during the last decade of the last century, a commission was formed in order to hear the atrocities that were committed by the old regime, as the victims, and their families, were invited to come forward and speak to the panel that was investigating. The film is based on a novel by Antjie Krog, but not having read it, one can't really give an opinion about how true the film is to the novel."In my Country", the movie based on this book in its American release, came and went quickly. We tried to see it during its debut, bu it disappeared from local screens in no time. We recently caught the movie on cable.There are some interesting aspects of what the commission was trying to accomplish in trying to bring members of the repressive force to justice. As in other conflicts, the people that were involved in the atrocities keep repeating about how they were following orders, a poor excuse, since no one owned up to having done anything wrong. After all, this was a country in which a white minority controlled a big black majority, and who wanted to keep things unchanged.At the center of the story is Anna Malan, a white South African, who is a radio personality. She follows the commission as more and more people are coming forward to tell their stories. A Washington Post black reporter, Langston Whitfield, is also covering the process. Inevitably, both come together. While they clash at first, they find common ground in their desire to tell the truth about South Africa.Juliette Binoche and Samuel L. Jackson are seen as Anna and Langston. Both give good performances. Brendan Gleeson is seen as the evil De Jager, a man responsible for some of the crimes committed against the poor black of the country who were deemed terrorist by the controlling whites. Menzi Ngubone plays Dumi, Anna's assistant and Sam Ngakone makes a dignified appearance as Anderson, who works for Anna's family.The film is interesting to watch as Mr. Boorman has given us a film to think about the criminal acts that were committed by a group of people that didn't stop to consider the consequences of what they were doing.

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gradyharp
2005/03/18

IN MY COUNTRY (COUNTRY OF MY SKULL), based on a book by Antjie Krog about South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of 1996 set in the aftermath of Apartheid, has been altered by screenwriter Ann Peacock and director John Boorman who have elected to 'dramatize' that event by fleshing out 'committed journalists' on both sides of the color fence: South Afrikaner Anna Malan (Juliette Binoche) and American hothead Langston Whitfield (Samuel L. Jackson). The dichotomy of the white/black reconciliation is thus reversed; Anna is white defending the South African blacks while Langston is black firing his vitriol against the white South Afrikaners.The story is immensely important to tell: 21,800 blacks were tortured and killed in the final days of Apartheid, but in the wisdom of South African philosophy the perpetrators are given amnesty if they confront their crimes and show remorse. This noble morality is the single most touching aspect of this story.During the Commission hearings all reporters hear the grief of the victims' families and are stunned. Though initially hostile to each other, Anna and Langston gradually are able to listen to each other's perspectives and become romantically involved (both are married with children) and as the film ends the affair is ended in keeping with the example of the truth the TRC has established.In an attempt to make this reality into a movie the impact is dulled by the Hollywoodesque treatment. Yes, Binoche and Jackson are fine actors (as is Menzi Ngubane who plays a wholly lovable South African instigator), but the melodrama they are forced to enact is superficial and does not add to the otherwise powerful message of this film. This is a movie that deserves the attention of a wide audience. Just pay more attention to the facts than to the soupy frosting under which it plays. Grady Harp

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