(2006) Based on a true story - the actual Patrick Chamusso appears at the movie's conclusion as himself - beginning during apartheid in South Africa, covering the 1980s, and ending in 1991 with surviving freedom fighters released from prison to be reunited with their family and friends, director Phillip Noyce and screenwriter Shawn Slovo (the picture dedicated to Joseph Slovo) include brief footage of Nelson Mandela after his release from incarceration on Robben Island. Apartheid means "people apart" in a country with 25 million blacks and just three million whites, but it also meant racism, injustice, and brutality.

Born with the name Rogerio, Patrick Chamusso (Derk Luke) received his first name from his father, who had come to South Africa from Mozambique but left the family when Patrick was ten. Patrick's mother lives with him and his wife Precious (Bonnie Henna), the former Miss Highveld Africa 1972, and their two young daughters. A foreman at the Segunda power plant, having begun working at 15 underground in the coal mines, Patrick keeps his nose clean, avoids politics (he criticizes his mother for listening to the ANC radio broadcasts in his home), devotes his time to family, his job, and coaching a soccer (football) team for boys.

On a trip with the team to Ermelo, Patrick leaves the boys after their victorious performance to visit with Miriam, another woman from his past who has a son by him; he obtains a forged physician's note for an extra day away from work. While he is away, terrorists set off an explosion at the power plant.

From the Anti-Terrorist Interrogation Centre, Col Nic Vos (Tim Robbins), pursuing the investigation intensely, follows evidence leading to Patrick. Arrested, locked up, and tortured (Zuko tells Precious: "They can hold him as long as they want"), Vic plays good cop to the bad cops of Patrick's captors. When Patrick finally confesses ("I love my wife") to Vos that he had gone to see another woman on the night of the terrorist attack, the colonel doesn't believe him.

Finally when he's returned to his cell after undergoing another round of cruelty, he finds Precious there with obvious signs of having been beaten. "What kind of man are you?" he screams, knowing the cell is bugged, and then cries out that he will admit to anything they want him to say so long as his wife is let go. "He didn't do it," realizes Vos, releasing his prisoner: "Our job is to find terrorists," not convict and hang innocent people.

Nevertheless, the Boers have created a terrorist where one had not been before. "What will your children say about you?" asks Patrick of Nic, whom he regards as a monster. Is it possible to forgive someone for trying to destroy your life and the lives of others?

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2008 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

Patrick Ivers can be reached via e-mail at .