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In My Country

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In My Country (2005)

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Reviews Counted:80

Fresh:18

Rotten:62

Average Rating:4.8/10

Consensus: A well-intentioned but melodramatic look at post-Apartheid South Africa.

Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Langston Whitfield (Samuel L. Jackson) is a Washington Post journalist. His editor provocatively sends him to South Africa to cover the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, in which the... Langston Whitfield (Samuel L. Jackson) is a Washington Post journalist. His editor provocatively sends him to South Africa to cover the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, in which the perpetrators of murder and torture on both sides during the Apartheid era are invited to come forward and confront their victims. By telling the unvarnished truth and expressing contrition, they may be granted amnesty. Can the deep wounds of Apartheid be healed through reconciliation? Langston is deeply sceptical. He tracks down Col. De Jager, the most notorious torturer in the SA Police and tries to penetrate the mind of a monster, an experience that obliges him to confront his own demons. Anna Malan (Juliette Binoche), is an Afrikaans poet who is covering the hearings for radio. As a white South African she is shattered by the accounts of the cruelty and depravity committed by her fellow countrymen. Anna and Langston must both question their sense of identity. Where do they each belong? How responsible are they for what is done in the name of their respective countries? The moving testimony of the victims affects them deeply. In different ways they are both estranged from their families, and their shared experience draws them ever closer to each other. It is a story charting the unfathomable depths of human cruelty and the redeeming power of forgiveness and love. -- © Sony Pictures Classics [More]

Starring: Juliette Binoche, Samuel L. Jackson, Brendan Gleeson, Menzi "Ngubs" Ngubane

Starring: Juliette Binoche, Samuel L. Jackson, Brendan Gleeson, Menzi "Ngubs" Ngubane

Director: John Boorman

Director: John Boorman
Screenwriter: Ann Peacock
Producer: Robert Chartoff, Mike Medavoy, Kieran Corrigan
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

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Reviews for In My Country

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1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It shows what can go wrong when a good-intentioned filmmaker mixes historical tragedy with Hollywood banality.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
06/09/05
Richard Nilsen
Richard Nilsen
Arizona Republic

...the foxhole relationship that develops between Anna and Langston is completely natural -- up until the point where they fall into bed together.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
04/29/05
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Is it a docudrama about South Africa's post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings? Or is it love story? The problem with In My Country is that it tries to be both.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
04/14/05
Bob Townsend
Bob Townsend
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

There is great material here and ample food for thought, but the presentation is lacking.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
04/23/05
Marrit Ingman
Marrit Ingman
Austin Chronicle
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
09/26/05
AV Club
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film, an international co-production about the aftermath of South African apartheid, has won peace awards and comes with a thumbs up from Nelson Mandela himself, none of which make its contrivances easier to swallow.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
03/18/05
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/02/05
Boston Phoenix
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A sludgy quagmire of sanctimonious moralizing and overbearing melodrama.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
02/20/05
David Lawrence
David Lawrence
Boxoffice Magazine

There is something not quite right about the film itself.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
04/01/05
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A stirring, large-souled movie about an event that was both an exposure of horror and a celebration of forgiveness.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
03/31/05
Michael Wilmington
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune

Boorman treats this moving, important subject with restraint, tact, and candid views of horrors suffered by the nation.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
03/10/05
David Sterritt
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

[Seems] less interested in South Africa and more interested in whether the journalists ... will suffer nervous breakdowns or run into the desert for a torrid love affair.

Full Review Source: Christianity Today | comment Comment
03/24/05
Jeffrey Overstreet
Jeffrey Overstreet
Christianity Today

A direção de Boorman e o roteiro deixam muito a desejar, muitas vezes apostando num maniqueísmo desnecessário. Porém, o filme tem coração e alma – e isto faz a diferença.

comment Comment
10/09/04
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

In spite of narrative missteps that negate the possibility of an empathetic protagonist, "In My Country" does viably introduce the African principle of "Ubuntu" whereby evil transgressions are absolved rather than revenged.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
04/16/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/26/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

A convoluted plot that takes away from the film's important central message

Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | comment Comment
03/09/05
Edward Douglas
Edward Douglas
ComingSoon.net

You feel insulted you're expected to care about the petty problems of the leads when other characters are dealing with child murder, political torture and genocide.

Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
04/22/05
John Beifuss
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

An effective dramatization of the Truth and Reconciliation hearings in South Africa in 1996.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
02/14/05
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

The script...intelligently explores...the profound need to make sense out of madness and to find emotional peace in its aftermath...Sustains a deep and moving involvement.

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
03/10/05
Arthur Lazere
Arthur Lazere
culturevulture.net
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
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