Proteus (2003)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

John Greyson

Writers:

John Greyson (script)
Jack Lewis (script)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

An interracial gay love story set in early 18th century South Africa about two men -- a black prisoner living in a Cape Town penal colony and a Dutch sailor -- who weather injustices as a result of their affair.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Sodomy | Sailor | Penal Colony | 18th Century

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Rouxnet Brown	...	Claas Blank
Shaun Smyth	...	Virgil Niven
Neil Sandilands	...	Rijkhaart Jacobz
Kristen Thomson	...	Kate
Tessa Jubber	...	Elize
Terry Norton	...	Betsy
Adrienne Pierce	...	Tinnie (as Adrienne Pearce)
Grant Swanby	...	Willer
Brett Goldin	...	Lourens
A.J. van der Merwe	...	Settler
Dean Lotz	...	Governor
Jeroen Kranenburg	...	Scholz
Johan Jacobs	...	Nama Prisoner
Katrina Kaffer	...	Kaness
Kwanda Malunga	...	Claas (age 10)

Runtime:

Canada:100 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | USA:97 min

Country:

Canada | South Africa

Language:

English | Afrikaans | Dutch

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

UK:15

Company:

Pluck Productions

Introducing the "new" Sam Elliott

While a brief description of "Proteus" may not make it sound particularly appealing, it's a surprisingly good work dealing with a time, place, and situation rarely covered in the movies. The anachronistic appearance of modern clothes and devices is only occasional and is probably meant to emphasize that the problems dealt with in "Proteus" are still with us today, in various forms. This insight, however, probably isn't worth the breaks in the movie's fabric these appearances cause. Also, the subplot involving a Dutch botanist, though given a lot of footage, never quite gels into a satisfying story.

Acting honors belong to Rouxnet Brown as the imprisoned "Hottentot" but viewers may be equally impressed by Neil Sandilands as the Dutch sailor-turned-inmate who becomes his lover. Sandilands may be half-a-notch below handsome but he has a good face and a good body and one can well imagine prison guards staring at him whenever he takes a shower. Unfortunately, his flogging scene is joined only after the final lash has been struck.

Neil Sandilands is a virtual newcomer at this point but he has about him the look and manner of a young Sam Elliott and could, with the right exposure, go places.

Those who go to this movie expecting lots of nudity and graphic sex will be disappointed. The sex scenes are frank but non-exploitive and, by current standards, almost modest.