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A Dry White Season (1989)

R | | Drama, Thriller | 20 September 1989 (USA)
A Dry White Season Poster
Ben du Toit is a schoolteacher who always has considered himself a man of caring and justice, at least on the individual level. When his gardener's son is brutally beaten up by the police ... See full summary »

Director:

Writers:

(novel) (as André Brink), (screenplay) | 1 more credit »

Stars:

, , | See full cast & crew »
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Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 7 nominations. See more awards »

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
... Ben
... Susan
... Stanley
... Captain Stolz (as Jurgen Prochnow)
... Melanie
... McKenzie
Winston Ntshona ... Gordon
Thoko Ntshinga ... Emily
Leonard Maguire ... Bruwer
... Col. Viljoen
... Suzette
Andrew Whaley ... Chris
Rowen Elmes ... Johan
Stella Dickin ... Susan's Mother
David de Keyser ... Susan's Father (as David De Keyser)
See full cast »
Edit

Storyline

Ben du Toit is a schoolteacher who always has considered himself a man of caring and justice, at least on the individual level. When his gardener's son is brutally beaten up by the police at a demonstration by black school children, he gradually begins to realize his own society is built on a pillar of injustice and exploitation. Written by Mattias Thuresson

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

anti apartheid activist | state violence | tortured prisoners | gardener | south africa | See All (211) »

Genres:

Drama | Thriller

Certificate:

R | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

20 September 1989 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Assassinato Sob Custódia  »

Filming Locations:

 »
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Box Office

Gross USA:

$3,766,879
See more on IMDbPro »

Company Credits

Production Co:

, ,  »
Show more on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

The meaning and relevance of the film and source novel's "A Dry White Season" title is, according to the Scholieren website, the explanation of the title is such: "A dry white season refers to the dry white season when he was just a little boy. His father lost all of his sheep during that season, forcing them to sell the farm and move. The dry white season took everything from them, leaving them alone and scorched among the white skeletons of dead sheep. It was where he first discovered himself and the world. Now he's enduring another dry white season. Everything is being taken from him. He's facing himself and the world ones again." See more »

Goofs

When Susan walks in on Ben and Stanley on Christmas day, she is carrying 2 suitcases and does not have her jacket draped on her shoulders. In the next scene, she is leaving the room with the jacket around her shoulders, is carrying only 1 suitcase and it is different than either of the ones she was carrying initially. See more »

Quotes

Ben du Toit: Did you ever actually see Gordon Ngubene?
Dr. Herzog: If I said I didn't, would it matter?
See more »

Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Miley Cyrus/Sam Rockwell/Chef Danny Bowien (2015) See more »

Soundtracks

UMUSA
Written by Joseph Shabalala
Performed by Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records
Produced by Danny Lawson for Night After Night Ltd.
See more »

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User Reviews

a beautiful movie
30 November 2001 | by – See all my reviews

We are Mrs Cisar's pupils in Dumont d'Urville high school in Caen, France. We are sixteen and we study in the 11th grade. We have been learning English for six years. We watched the film A Dry White Season in the English class and we had to sum up and give our opinion on this film.

The film takes place in South Africa, during Apartheid in 1976. A white man (Ben), who is a teacher in a white school decided to defend his gardener who was beaten to death by the police. It's the story of a white person who wants to help the blacks in their fight against segregation.

We liked this film because it made us understand the horrible situation in South Africa during Apartheid. We could never have imagined that this kind of things could have happened there, so it taught us what life during Apartheid was like. That makes the film very educational for everybody and makes our mentalities evolve. The film is very interesting because there is suspense and we didn't know if justice would be done. It also showed us that people should not be judged on the colour of their skins, but on their characters.

Even if this film is very shocking sometimes and violent, we recommended it to our friends in order to make them understand what Apartheid was and what segregation is. This is still a burning issue in our society.

Watch this film and you will know what Apartheid was really about;

Thomas Alexis Gautier Ewan
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