Susan Surandon's cynical remark to Donald Sutherland, indicating that although he's lived all his life in South Africa, he was oblivoius to the brutality surrounding his normal family life. Schoolteacher Meneer Du Toit literally loses everything in his struggle to bring justice to those responsible for the deaths of his gardener and his gardener's son. Feeling guilty after taking his gardener's son's death a little too lightly, he is immediately swept up in the chaotic world of corruption and bloody cover-ups, after seeing the body of his badly beaten and tortured friend of 15 years.



The movie is full of gripping scenes and holds nothing back, with brutal slayings of children, torture scenes, and a disturbing view into a hospital mortuary. The film is primarily rated R for these violent images.



Marlon Brando, although appearing for maybe 15-20 minutes of the film, really takes over in his scenes, as slick barrister, Ian MacKenzie. Even though his courtroom battle is futile, he certainly gets in his licks. He played his character to a tee, and definitely deserved the Oscar nomination, despite the controversy that year, over his limited screen time.



I was much younger when I first rented the film around 1990, and it hits me harder today than it did back then. It's a well acted film, and a powerful one, Donald Sutherland gives and incredible perfomance and a particularly moving scene in the film is when he is in tears on the phone, speaking to his daughter, after finally realizing she has betrayed him. Except for his son, most of his family, friends, and colleagues do not wish to associate with him after the path his as chosen in fighting a losing battle against corruption. A top notch film about a man willing to give up everything, in pursuit of truth and justice over the wrongful death of a friend. This should be on everyone's must see list of important 80's films.