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Title: A Dry White Season (1989)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Donald Sutherland | ... | Ben | |
| Janet Suzman | ... | Susan | |
| Zakes Mokae | ... | Stanley | |
| Jürgen Prochnow | ... | Captain Stolz (as Jurgen Prochnow) | |
| Susan Sarandon | ... | Melanie | |
| Marlon Brando | ... | McKenzie | |
| Winston Ntshona | ... | Gordon | |
 |
Thoko Ntshinga | ... | Emily |
|
|
Leonard Maguire | ... | Bruwer |
| Gerard Thoolen | ... | Col. Viljoen | |
| Susannah Harker | ... | Suzette | |
|
|
Andrew Whaley | ... | Chris |
|
|
Rowen Elmes | ... | Johan |
|
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Stella Dickin | ... | Susan's Mother |
|
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David de Keyser | ... | Susan's Father (as David De Keyser) |
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
Apartheid gripped South Africa for many years. One heard the news with total disbelief, as things got worse in that country. Euzhan Palcy has brought Andre Brink's novel to the screen making a statement along the way about what was wrong in South Africa under the brutal repression of those that dared to make a stand.
The carnage one sees in the film is hard to take. Especially, since one occurrence is directed to innocent children who are trying to make a stand about education. At the time, the white establishment labeled communist all those that dared oppose the ruling class. It's ironic that after things got to be democratic, those same rebels didn't turn the country into a communist state.
The story centers on a white teacher that suddenly awakens to what is happening around him. His involvement comes through his gardener, Gordon, who is a decent man. When the gardener's son is arrested, Gordon turns to Ben for help. That will mark the beginning of Ben's passive attitude toward apartheid. By trying to help, Ben will be a marked man, a traitor to his people, according to even his own family.
Donald Sutherland makes an excellent Ben, the former football star and teacher. We watch him as he gets deeply involved in his quest for justice in a land where it was unknown. Zakes Mokae, an immensely talented actor of stage and screen, plays Stanley the man that serves as a link between the struggling faction and Ben. Jurgen Prochnow plays the sadistic Capt. Stolz conveying all the cruelty and arrogance of the man. Janet Suzman is Ben's wife, a woman who doesn't want to see any changes in her cushy life.
The surprise of the film is the appearance of Marlon Brando in a small, but pivotal role of Ian McKenzie, a barrister that brings the case to a court of justice, but it's defeated by the system. Mr. Brando made a tremendous contribution to the film.
Ms. Palcy's film is a reminder of the injustice perpetuated in South Africa under the apartheid rule.