By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Ian Gabriel
Starring: Arnold Vosloo | Quanita Adams | Zane Meas
Country: south_africa
Year: 2004
Running time: 112
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382037/combined
Bruce says: “Each year the Toronto International Film Festival has a program which highlights films from a single country – this year that country was South Africa, chosen to celebrate the tenth anniversary of democracy and the end of apartheid.
“FORGIVENESS is a melodrama that deals with the problems of burying guilt and anger which many have harbored in the past decade or more. Tertius Coetzee (Arnold Vosloo), a white ex-cop, makes a pilgrimage to make his apologies to the family of Daniel Grootboom, a black boy he had killed during a terrorist investigation. When he turns up at the Grootboom family home, the dead boy’s parents greet him with caution. Sannie (Quanita Adams) and Ernest (Christo Davids), Daniel’s sister and brother,
are outraged that a white man would even consider opening the wounds which are still festering, impossible to heal.
“Sannie calls Daniel’s three college friends and tells them to come quickly in order to give the killer cop exactly what he justly deserves, a bullet in the head. The three boys – two of them black and one, white – have gone their separate ways and live far away in the North. The three agree to avenge Daniel’s death and begin a long road trip to face the man who killed their friend. Sannie meanwhile has to stall the cop and keep him in the village until the avengers arrive.
“In the course of several meetings, it becomes clear to the family that the cop’s apologies are heart felt and that he truly has experienced untold anguish as a result of what happened. Ernest doesn’t come to that conclusion as rapidly as the others and goes after the cop with a gun. When Coetzee says ‘Son, don’t make the same mistake I did,’ the boy puts down the gun. Later Coetzee reveals that one of Daniel’s three friends was an informer who unfairly and inaccurately marked his friend as a terrorist target. The question no one could answer is: Which one?
“As the family learns more about what really happened, the mother (Denise Newman) slowly emerges from her shell. As she gets a bit flirtatious with her husband Hendrik (Zane Meas), he cautions, ‘Don’t browse if you’re not going to buy.’ The final scene is a
memorial service for Daniel. Daniel’s three friends arrive during the service, and the traitor reveals himself as he shoots Coetzee. For him, life is a game of tit-for-tat.
“Shot on HD, then transferred to 35mm, as most South African film now are, FORGIVENESS uses the benefits of video without appearing too ‘artsy.’ Arnold Vosloo is particularly effective in a very moving performance and Quanita Adams handles the moral complexities of her character quite well.
“The story moves back and forth between the family on the seashore and the three boys on the road in the car. The road trip portion is not as fully developed as the drama between the family and Coetzee. This leaves the film a bit lopsided. This is a bleak film; the main hope is Ernest who listens to reason, doing his part to end the cycle of violence. 3 cats
This film was shown at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival”