paulouscan I am amazed to see the negative review this film got in North America. It is a wonderful film. The interpretation is excellent, very moving. Direction achieves its target very efficiently, without lengths. What better message than that of Love, that of seeking reconciliation? Force and violence never came to anything lasting. Admittedly, it very often took force and struggle and blood to achieve peace. But it has never lasted otherwise than by the love of man, the type of love which made us educate, cultivate, teach people everything we knew so that they would go even further in this direction, along this work, and so that by increasing human brotherhood love, we could achieve a more calm, more live-able, more fertile society, with a future still ahead. I tip my hat to the general attitude of the black people of South Africa, who has followed the lead of Mandela to see an end of war in the reconciliation process, an end to hatred, an end to insecurity, to this imaginary threat which used to inflame the minds contagiously and drove men to kill each other. It is difficult to bring a better message to the audience of a film. Very brilliant screenplay. Absolutely worth seeing. And I would add that one can see in that message the old axiom: it is not enough to be honest and to act according to his faith, beliefs, convictions; this attitude is just an elementary basics; what is needed is to act according to truth; and if one wants to know where the truth lies: it's what leads to more life, the solution that produces the most life, not one that respects one's personal beliefs, it would be much too easy ...

user-520 I have been procrastinating allot this weekend watching movies, first I saw Disturbia - best teen horror movie to come out of Hollywood in a long time, then I accidentally saw Catch a Fire - I thought it was about something else and I decided to watch Country of My Skull as well. It actually turned out quite well, since I have an assignment due in 2 weeks about affirmative action in Social Psychology and these movies both just sensitized me again to that part of my heritage. For the ignorant however, our society is quite different from what is depicted in Hollywood dramas. There is still allot to be overcome, but we have achieved probably more than any other society have ever in terms of social trust - that's a difficult argument, but figure it out for yourself.Catch a fire was much better than this movie though, Juliette Binoche's role as a conscientious Afrikaans women isn't very accurate, and her emotional outbursts are to histrionic, almost psychotic. Both my parents were like that, and the dynamics of South African society gives far greater lea way than a foreigner would expect. It isn't necessary to act all guilty like for crimes you didn't commit and governance philosophies you didn't support to achieve acceptance among those affected by it. South African blacks are actually quite chilled out in general, if you simply show respect they act indiscriminately regarding the apartheid era. Maybe I'm just to young to really know.Between Tim Robbens, Juliette Binoche, the guy who was Stander and Leonardo Dicaprio; Tim and Leo's performances of white Southern Africans has been by far the best.

lord woodburry Welcome to the New South Africa. The old order has fallen and the in-coming majority has decided to deal with the excesses of the old order genteelly through a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Anna Malan (Juliette Binoche) is one of the widely respected local reporters covering proceedings. And Anna is quite intent on celebrating South Africa's newly found freedom even though most other Afrikaaners either ignore the change-over or show polite disdain for Anna's exuberance. Anna is a bit too enthusiastic to take notice of the subtle expressions of displeasure.The scenes with Anna and her Afrikaneer family and friends are magnificently staged, capturing the tension of the moment and Anna's blithe ignorance of the discomfort of all around her.Anna is joined at the reporter's table by the American Langston Whitfield (Samuel L. Jackson) who finds great affection Afrikaaners and Africans have to their country very different from his ambivalent feelings toward his own. Yet while Whitfield is up to some serious work running a story on the notorious Colonel De Jager (Brendan Gleeson), does join the celebration.The excesses that the high priests of the old order have to publicly own up to range from the brutal and macabre to the plain bizarre. "I have only one question," an old man asks, "before I forgive you. Why did you chop down my fruit trees?" Most incidents are far more serious. Certainly the propensity of the unlawful violence and brutality was on a scale Bush and Cheney could only envy.The Commission, though it is exhuming bodies across the velt, cannot get a true grip on the organized violence of the former regime. Enter Colone De Jager. Though the Colonel reveals the secret torture camp, he is denied amnesty for having gone too far."Why," cries Anna after DeJager as he is being carted away, "did you do this?" The answer is as bizarre as the violence itself.The movie is highly recommended though the end is probably a little too arty for an American audience.

SONNYK_USA Director John Boorman has taken on a weighty and incendiary subject, much like Terry George's recent take on genocide in "Hotel Rwanda." Although "In My Country" is set post-Apartheid, it still covers a hot topic: what do you do with the people that are to blame when a genocide occurs? President Nelson Mandela formed a commission to get at the truth and in return for that information he was offering amnesty for those government officers that were only 'following orders'. An amazing precedent to say the least.However, director Boorman has chosen to balance the emotional testimony of the victims with a sometimes humorous side-story involving an American journalist, played by the great Samuel L. Jackson ("Coach Carter") and a local 'white' radio reporter, played by the equally great Juliette Binoche ("The English Patient").Certainly, a story of this import deserves a documentary but as it stands, this is as close as any American will ever get to this story since many newspapers buried it when it originally occurred. Racism is an ugly thing, but forgiveness is a beautiful thing and this movie balances the two in an effective and entertaining manner.Check this one out, especially if you are a fan of "Hotel Rwanda" and hearing the 'truth' for a change.