Stander (2003)

The life and career of Andre Stander, a South African police officer turned bank robber.

Director:

Bronwen Hughes

Writer:

Bima Stagg

Stars:

Thomas Jane, David O'Hara, Dexter Fletcher

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Thomas Jane	...	Andre Stander
Dexter Fletcher	...	Lee McCall
David O'Hara	...	Allan Heyl (as David Patrick O'Hara)
Deborah Kara Unger	...	Bekkie Stander
Ashley Taylor	...	Cor van Deventer
Marius Weyers	...	General Stander
At Botha	...	General Viljoen
Lionel Newton	...	Sergeant Smit
Melanie Merle	...	Sharmiane
Sean Else	...	Ed Janis
Peter Gardner	...	Allums
Patrick Mynhardt	...	Judge
Wikus du Toit	...	Lawyer
Drummond Marais	...	Prosecutor
Nicole Abel	...	Young Lady

Storyline

In the early 1980's, a white police officer (Andres Stander, played by Thomas Jane) in Johannesburg suffers a crisis of conscience due to his involvement in apartheid and becomes a notorious bank robber on the run. Then from 1983 to 1984, the "Stander gang" (Stander, Alan Heyl & Patrick McCall) rob as many as four banks a day.

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Plot Keywords:

police | bank robber | apartheid | protest | jailbreak | 

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Taglines:

South Africa's most wanted man

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Genres:

Action | Biography | Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language, some sexuality and nudity

Did You Know?

Trivia

The town of Tembisa was enthusiastic about filming the Apartheid rally scene. 1,300 extras were recruited for the riot scene, and many additional locals joined in on the day, rushing in while the cameras were rolling.

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Goofs

In the film, Andre Stander received a 32 year sentence for his bank robberies. In real life, he was in fact sentenced to a total of 75 years.

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Quotes

Andre Stander: I'm tried for robbing banks. But, I have killed unarmed people.
Judge: That is not the business of the court.

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Connections

Featured in Anatomy of a Scene: Stander (2004)

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Soundtracks

Izulu Li Ya Duma
Performed by Temple of Sound featuring Joe Legwabe
Written by Sparkles, Count Dubula, Joe Legwabe
Published by Real Works Ltd.

User Reviews

Brilliant true crime film Thomas Jane was amazing

I Just got back from a screening of This film at the Sundance film festival, and there are some corrections that need to be made from some of the other comments. After the screening the director did a Q&A where when asked was all this true, she said oddly enough "the outrageous stuff was true, and we had to add normal plot fillers to help it dramatically."

Stander never planned his robberies, he was a criminal who was sick of seeing the violence against the unarmed citizens, and tired of the crookedness of police life, that he rebelled against the system, just as a political act, not a need for money.

This film has plenty of great action scenes and alot of great comedy as well as brilliant acting by the whole cast, especially Thomas Jane who shines as Stander.

Outside of the violence and fun, there is a very powerful moral story, one of right and wrong, politics and the lonely life of a criminal. One theme I love was repeated throughout, and that is that the wrong man is always punished, or killed, when we should be looking at our government officials and their corruption, we spend too much time on the little criminals.

Very fascinating, and fun to watch, as well as thought provoking, once again the Q&A would answer all of the problems other posters had with the film, because the stuff they did not like was the actual facts behind the characters lives, just AMAZING!!

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Canada Germany South Africa UK

Language:

English Afrikaans Zulu

Release Date:

10 October 2003 (South Africa)

Also Known As:

Stander

Filming Locations:

South Africa

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$19,067, 8 August 2004

Gross USA:

$31,651

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$272,791

Company Credits

Production Co:

ApolloProMedia GmbH & Co. 1. Filmproduktion KG (I), Grosvenor Park Productions, Rough Diamond Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1