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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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21 - 40 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
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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

Black, white and clunky.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
04/11/05
Stephen Cole
Stephen Cole
Globe and Mail

Need[s] to be seen, as essential history and as demonstration of a form of social reckoning where compassion triumphs over passion, and the olive branch over the gun.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
04/08/05
Peter Howell
Peter Howell
Toronto Star

Failing to get beyond trite Hollywood romantic conventions, sermonizing caricatures and 'I was just following orders' explanations does a great disservice to history.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
04/08/05
Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel

A really bad movie about a really important subject is twice the artistic crime -- because, however well-intentioned, it trivializes human suffering while squandering a teaching opportunity.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
04/08/05
M.E. Russell
M.E. Russell
Oregonian

Worth seeing for many reasons, including for the obvious educational aspects.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
04/08/05
Liz Braun
Liz Braun
Jam! Movies

...a dull and surprisingly silly little drama...

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
04/07/05
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

An atmosphere of stilted self-importance chokes just about every scene.

Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly | comment Comment
04/07/05
Steve Schneider
Steve Schneider
Orlando Weekly
N/R

Click to read the article

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

An academic dis-cussion punctuated by shots of magnificent countryside harboring unspeakable grief.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
04/02/05
Jami Bernard
Jami Bernard
New York Daily News

Important for what it teaches about revenge, justice and forgiveness. But you'll have to ignore the goofiness.

Full Review Source: San Diego Metropolitan | comment Comment
04/02/05
Jean Lowerison
Jean Lowerison
San Diego Metropolitan

A series of brief, appallingly simplistic vignettes that, rather than conveying the depth and complexity of South Africa's history and culture, distill it to the point of distortion.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
04/01/05
Ann Hornaday
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post

Watching it is like drinking a glass of Alka-Seltzer before the tablet is dissolved. Afterward, you're glad you drank it -- it wasn't that hard to swallow -- but you would've preferred a nice chardonnay.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
04/01/05
Eric Harrison
Eric Harrison
Houston Chronicle

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

Unquestionably sincere, but it doesn't do the subject justice in either the African or the western sense of the phrase.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
04/01/05
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

Captivating while it lasts, and exceeds the majority of the year's lackluster cinematic offerings in terms both of ambition and execution.

Full Review Source: IGN Movies | comment Comment
03/31/05
Todd Gilchrist
Todd Gilchrist
IGN Movies

What do you say about a dramatically woeful movie whose heart and politics are in the right place? Well, you sigh as you turn your thumb downward.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
03/31/05
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post

As an instrument for peace, let's applaud Boorman's effort. As a film that works on all levels? Let's not.

Full Review Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel | comment Comment
03/31/05
Laura Kelly
Laura Kelly
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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

High-minded and tin-eared, it finds one of our greatest blood-poets staggering around "forgiveness," unable to suss out a visual vocabulary for this strange, new language.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Weekly | comment Comment
03/31/05
Sean Burns
Sean Burns
Philadelphia Weekly
 
 
21 - 40 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
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