Disgrace (2008)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Steve Jacobs

Writers:

J.M. Coetzee (novel)
Anna Maria Monticelli (screenplay)

Release Date:

26 December 2008 (Norway)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

What is a mad heart?

Plot:

After having an affair with a student, a Cape Town professor moves to the Eastern Cape, where he gets caught up in a mess of post-apartheid politics. |

Plot Keywords:

One Word Title | Based On Novel

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Paula Arundell	...	Dr Rasool
Scott Cooper	...	Student
Eriq Ebouaney	...	Petrus
Antoinette Engel	...	Melanie Isaacs
Jessica Haines	...	Lucy
John Malkovich	...	David Lurie
Fiona Press
Monroe Reimers	...	Board member
Charles Tertiens	...	Ryan

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

Australia | South Africa

Language:

English | Xhosa | Afrikaans | Zulu

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Portugal:M/16 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Cape Town, South Africa

Company:

Fortissimo Films

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The notices in the lecture theater "Mid-term test" and "Casanova - your time is over" appear to have been written by the same person. Given the professionalism adopted by the university in its investigation of Mr Laurie it does not seem plausible to suggest that one person (say, a teacher's aide) wrote both notices.

haunting, horrible tale of degradation in the new South Africa

A searing portrait of humiliation and degradation- keyed to the disintegrating hellhole that is "liberated" South Africa. The one jarring and hollow note is its equivalencing of the Professor's sleazy but relatively mild sexual extortion of a lazy student and the monstrous attack on him and his daughter. But this is a twisted obsession in the West- that men are always guilty and that if there is a big age difference someone is exploiting someone- in reality I think such relationships are almost impossible nowadays without a girls active and total cooperation. And I live in a country where 20 year age differences are common (like most of the world). Or maybe his humiliation is just the opening act of exponentially increasing humiliations.

Malkovitch is, as usual, preternaturally clinical and detached about his daughter's insane decisions to accept and embrace her degradation (and her character almost dissolves in stages in a haunting and devastating acting job by Haines), even as he beats his head against the wall (literally) in agony. This decision- to stay in this hell where her rapists will become her masters and captors- will rip the viewer apart. "I am a woman," she says in simple explanation to his demands and pleas that they leave, and maybe any woman in that situation is somewhat insane. It has been the tactic of invaders since time immemorial: kill the men and rape the women, and the kids born will be their tribe… and the change will be complete. (Of course the original invaders were the whites, but this doesn't feel like justice.) It is inconceivable how women could abide this, but they've done it for eons and can adapt and bend to almost anything. Her stubbornness and resolve to stay there and accept her fate ("I think we owe a debt, and maybe they are the collectors") after the collapse of a lesbian relationship, is wrenching and horrible- but it is often the way of the world: that vicious predators get stronger and win what they violate. A recent BBC story had 1/4 of South African men admitting rape. I've seen it happen in the racist and violent climate of Hawaii (against whites- why do you think Obama is such a calm master peacemaker?), where white girls will come with liberated ideas of multicultural romance, have an affair with a local, and be trapped and broken into incredibly abusive relationships that they can't escape.

One screams for Malkovitch to snap, to blow away the criminals, but that would be too easy. The growing shades of complicity of her black housemate is another chilling and sickening detail, as all things are ripped from this family. It is a slow motion torture that gets worse and worse, without relief.

This movie is an elegy for the beautiful dying South Africa; whatever civilization the whites brought along with their racist oppression and victimization, is being washed away in an orgy of violence, brutality, rape, 22% AIDs, and "reparations". Talked to one guy who left after being carjacked for the 3rd time- the last time even though he had a RFID interlock that would shut off his ignition 15 ft away, he fought with his armed attackers. I did radio reports from Moscow for Radio South Africa in Joberg, and was struck by the madness of trying to explain how twisted and distorted a place Russia was to people who put burning tires on others to show their displeasure.