Movie Review

Directed by John Boorman, starring Juliette Binoche (Anna Matan), Samuel L. Jackson (Langston Whitfield), Menzi Ngubane (Dumi Musani), Phoenix Pictures, 103 minutes, 2004.

Anna, Langston and Dumi are all reporters covering the Truth and Reconciliation hearings in South Africa. Anna is an Afrikaans poet; Langston is a black American journalist with an attitude and Dumi is a black South African with insider experience of oppression as well as status as an accredited journalist. Each struggles to understand the phenomenon of Apartheid. For Anna, a liberal and anti apartheid advocate who is at odds with her father and beloved brother as well as many of her husband's friends it is a matter of coming to terms with the true horror of what was done in her name. Langston comes with a set attitude from his U.S. experience of oppression and is totally undone by the black South African notion of umbutu. Thinking that he comes in solidarity with a common experience he struggles to understand compassion and forgiveness. Dumi understands, but is caught in his own complicity with the forces that oppressed his own family. His is the experience of 'internalized oppression'.

This is a story that explores the many levels of forgiveness; as a social phenomenon; as a personal experience and as a political force. It is a subtle and evocative story played out against the background of the physical beauty of South Africa, with stunning scenes of the countryside juxtaposed with the ugly brutality of everyday life for black South Africans and the privileged but paranoid existence of Afrikaners.

Jews and Christians share a large area of agreement in the formation of moral judgments. Both emphasize the oneness of the human family and our responsibility for each other, (umbutu. Jesus for instance maintained and even intensified the prophets' defense of the poor and powerless. However, we do differ on the extent to which each emphasizes deeds and intentions. For Jews, actual behaviour trumps. For Christians, intention counts more. ("As a person thinks in their heart so are they", said Jesus) A few years ago the U.S. Bishops' Conference (R.C.) condemned even the possession of nuclear weapons as a just deterrent to war because, they argued, in order for the enemy to believe they would actually be used in certain circumstances, that intention was already immoral.

What then are we to make of Jesus' words "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do"? Is that just the sort of thing Jesus would say because he was that kind of person? However, if one can't imagine oneself doing such a thing, does that make Jesus less credible as a moral guide? How could they NOT know what they were doing? If they KNEW what they were doing does that mean that Jesus wouldn't have forgiven them? Did the Roman officials and their collaborators genuinely believe that Jesus was a threat, a guerrilla, a freedom fighter, a terrorist? Afrikaners believed it of blacks. In the Anglican Tradition we live with an amazing statement of repentance and forgiveness: Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead the new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways : Draw near with faith and take this holy sacrament to your comfort; and make your humble confession to Almighty God, meekly kneeling.

A more compressed summary of the Christian understanding of repentance and forgiveness would be hard to find. It assumes three things; that human beings are free, that God endows us with the capacity for choice, that we are responsible for our actions. Otherwise the call for repentance would be meaningless. Since I can repent, I am responsible.

It is important that we try to avoid two extremes; that is to make penitence and forgiveness so easy that they come to mean nothing ("cheap grace") or to make forgiveness so demanding it becomes unreachable. This fine line became a national policy in South Africa.

This movie will stretch your understanding and maybe even your practice of forgiveness. It will make you laugh; it will make you gasp and it will bring you tears.