kobusx10
Stander is my favorite movie that nobody seems to know about (even most South Africans).Of all the useless shallow, and meaningless drivel that Hollywood serves up, you would think that an exceptional film like Stander would at least get some recognition.Well, the marketing was just horrible I guess. I tried to get some of my American friends to watch the movie but I didn't have a copy with me, so I looked up the trailer so they could get some idea of what it's about. The only result of this being that we decided that it was the worst movie trailer we'd ever seen.The story of a white, South African police captain who decides to rob banks, set to the backdrop of 70's Apartheid Johannesburg would be a great story on it's own if it were fictional, but incredibly it's a true story. And if you go do some research you will find that the script very accurately follows the original story (with a few additions here and there to help the flow of the film).It's hard to say what is the best aspect of this film, but if I were forced to point out one thing it would be the way that 70's Johannesburg was recreated. From the old cars to the original bank names and crazy hairstyles. The cinematography is also done in such a way that the color is a bit faded out. This makes you feel like you are watching some classic bank robbery movie from the seventies. As a South African myself I found the recreation extremely accurate and detailed, especially for a Canadian film company and director. Johannesburg even looked cleaner, because right now Jo'burg is quite a dirty city.As far as acting goes you never like to see a foreigner playing one of your own countrymen, but Thomas Jane completely blows you away with the best performance of his career. He had the challenge of portraying one of the most complex movie-characters I'd ever encountered and adding to this he also had to put on a very strong South African accent. I couldn't even believe that this was the same man who played the 'Die Hard'-style action hero in 'Deep Blue See'. His accent is close to flawless, much better than Leonardo in 'Blood Diamond' or Tim Robbins.Thomas Jane is also supported by a strong group of supporting actors. The Canadian actress, Kara Unger plays Stander's wife, a character almost as complex as Stander himself and the interaction of the couple is well portrayed. The two other members of the 'Stander Gang' make the movie that much more enjoyable as they bring even more complexity but also humour. The rest of the cast is all South African and this adds to the realism in the film. Most notable of the South African performances are Stander's father, played by Marius Weyers, and Stander's friend in the police force, Captain Cor van Deventer.Stander, in the end is the story of a man in conflict with the world around him, the mistakes of his past and the random cruelty he sees happening all around him. This is a recurring theme emphasized by the line, "The wrong ones do keep dying".I found that I was rooting for Stander all the way, other than in 'Public Enemies' where I had no sympathy for the selfish behaviour of the main character at all.I could keep rambling on about how good the film is but in the end I just want people to spend the 5 dollars and buy the film from Ebay or Itunes, or borrow it from a friend. You will not be disappointed! A warning for sensitive viewers, the riot scenes in Soweto are very graphic and realistic.
A J MacDonald Jr
How many times do people have their hearts broken during the movie: Stander? 1. The viewer's heart should break during the opening credits, which shows the visual contrast between the wealthy, white Afrikaner's neighborhoods and the poor, black African's slums. South Africa's apartheid system during the seventies is the heartbreaking context in which the story takes place.2. In the opening scene, Andre, the main character, and his wife are shown re-marrying one another. Their hearts have already been broken before the real story even begins; they are now trying to put the pieces of their broken relationship back together.3. Andre's heart is broken when, during the confusion of a riot, he shoots and kills a young, unarmed black man (this is the one, big heartbreak from which all other heartbreaks, from this point in the film on, will originate).4. Andre breaks the heart of his best friend (a fellow cop) who, because Andre is robbing banks, is finally forced to arrest him (the friend also gets his heart broken when Andre refuses to heed the warning he gives him (i.e., that he is on to him) to stop).5. Andre's father's heart is broken when he hears, on the news, that his son has been arrested for bank robbery.6. Andre's wife's heart is broken when she hears, on the news, that he's been arrested for bank robbery.7. Andre's heart is broken when his wife, after having pleaded with him not to put his job over their relationship, again, rejects him and his plan for the two of them to run away together. His heart is also broken by the fact that his wife doesn't understand the heartbreak he feels for the blacks, especially the young man he killed, and the apartheid system he has been a part of.8. Andre's heart is broken again when he (later) sees his wife making love with another man.9. Andre, the father of the young man that Andre killed, and all of the spectators, have their hearts broken when Andre seeks out the young man's father to apologize to him for killing his son and submits himself to the father's punishment (i.e., a good beating).10. Andre's heart is broken when he sees his friend, surrounded by the police, commit suicide by cop (going down in a hail of police bullets).11. Allen, now the only surviving member of the Stander Gang besides Andre, relates to Andre a profound heartbreak he experienced in the past, occasioned by South Africa's apartheid system, the rejection of which led him into his life of crime: the police had beaten a woman he loved, a black woman, and had cause the death of her child (she was pregnant, although not with Allen's child).12. As Andre and his friend Allen say their goodbyes, as each of them will now go their separate ways. Both of their hearts are broken by the end of their friendship.13. Andre travels to the United States and arrives in Fort Lauderdale during Spring Break. A young woman approaches him, thinking he is a celebrity, and, for a moment, Andre appears to believe that he could fall in love again; perhaps even with this woman. She soon runs off to join the drinking festivities and Andre realizes how stupid it was for him to think he could ever fall in love and be happy again. You can see the heartbreak on his face.14. Andre calls his father, pretending to be a black man who once worked for his father, and says his goodbyes to him. Heartbreaking. For both of them.15. Andre then steals a car, runs a red light (on purpose), and leads two nearby police officers on a high speed chase (he is told, by the cops), that he had been going over 100 mph). When stopped, he wrestles a gun away from one of the cops and, with intention of using it (his intention being suicide by cop), points the gun at one of the officers. The other officer fires, twice, dropping Andre to the pavement, where he soon dies. His heartbreak finally over. This is the last scene.16. As the credits roll, we are told the tragic, heartbreaking fates of two of the main characters: Andre's wife later commits suicide, and Andre's friend Allen is caught and sentenced to thirty-two years in prison. (Remember, this film is based on a true story.) 17. The viewer's heart breaks again, at the end of this movie, because we know, now, how wrong South Africa's apartheid system was. It's over now. And it was this system of oppression which drove both Andre and Allen into their lives of crime in the first place. These were simply men with good consciences who could no longer tolerate being a part of the oppressive system and chose to revolt against it. In other words, in the end, they were proved right. Heartbroken, but right.
Claudio Carvalho
In 1976, in Johannesburg, the efficient anti-racist Homicide/Robbery Police Captain Andre Stander (Thomas Jane) has a nervous breakdown after killing an unarmed man in an apartheid protest. Stander decides to confront and mock the established corrupt system heisting twenty-six banks while working for the police department. He is captured and sentenced to thirty-two years in prison; however, he succeeds to escape with the criminals Lee McCall (Dexter Fletcher) and Allan Heyl (David Patrick O'Hara) and together they form "The Stander Gang" and rob another twenty banks in six months."Stander" tells the story of the notorious Afrikaner bank robber and former police captain Andre Stander. The movie works perfectly as an action movie, but if the intention was to give any political connotation to the actions of the anti-hero Stander, it completely fails. Stander is shown as an efficient but unbalanced man in love for his wife performed by the gorgeous Deborah Kara Unger that defies the system, not like a Robin Hood or to protect the black people, but for self-profit only. Thomas Jane has a great performance in the role of this complex character. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Stander – Um Policial Contra o Sistema" ("Stander – A Policeman Against the System")
