'Master Harold'... and the Boys

I watched this movie once as a young boy, and it absolutely destroyed me.

I'm not sure how old I was, but I was just old enough to be home alone when my parents went out for the night. It may have been the first time I was left home alone, as a matter of fact.

Not sure how I ended up watching this movie - it seems an odd choice for a kid staying up past his bedtime because his parents were out to dinner.

In any event, it moved me in a way no movie had before. I was enraptured by the relationship between Master Harold and his servants, the beautiful fatherly care he was shown, and the deep love that existed between them. When Master Harold grows, and begins to see the separation between blacks and whites in apartheid South Africa - when he gets caught up in the evil and intolerance of that horrible time... I was devastated.

I had never cried like I cried at that movie, at the loss of innocence and the purity of the relationship that was so brutally tarnished. I felt like I had lost something myself. I mourned the love that was destroyed… and at the culmination of the film, the realization that a boundary had been crossed, that some words, and some actions can never be undone.

As a young white kid growing up in a sheltered, privileged life, I feared that I might grow to develop that kind of ignorance…in my naiveté I didn't see that I was already being raised to be a good, accepting person and that were I in a place where I could lose that basic humanity, the movie itself would not have had such an impact on me.

In any event, this movie was a formative part of my being, and the adult I have grown up to be. I have a visceral hatred for bigotry and intolerance, and I can say that – of course, along with my parents and their wise guidance – this movie was a significant part of the journey that resulted in this as a guiding principle of who I am as an adult, and how I raise my children.

I have not seen the film again since, and I would be curious to see if the impact would hold true so many years later. But based on my memory of the experience, I couldn't recommend this film more, for children, adults, or anyone who wants a meaningful and powerful look into innocence lost and the damage that can be wrought through ignorance and intolerance.

I've seen both the movie and a live production of "Master Harold" and it's an incredible, heart-wrenching script. I really enjoyed the movie production as well. If you get the chance to see it, do so, but bring tissues!

I found this on YouTube recently, and it reminded me of the time many years ago when I saw this on television. I was a young man (25) at the time, and it just tore me up. I would like to think that I was already a non-racist, but I know that this movie grounded and solidified my opinions and feeling on the topic like nothing else ever has.

It sneaks up on you. Three people talking in room about ballroom dancing, geography, history, and kite flying. You don't see it coming, but it gradually becomes one of the most profound statements on how racism hurts everyone, including (and maybe especially) the racist himself.

Nothing before or since in my life has effected me in precisely the way this did, and does. The acting is superb, and the writing.... well, Atholl Fugard is a genius.

See this version. I assume the Ving Rhames film is also good, but it has a much larger cast and so I suspect they added a lot of new material to "open it up" as Hollywood likes to do. I'll see it, but you must see this version first. Also, Zakes Mokae won a Tony award for this portrayal of Sam, and it is so obvious as to why. His final soliloquy to Hally made me cry. Then, and now.

There are no special effects, elaborate sets, or huge casts of megastars. There are only three cast members, one set, and a script. The script is so well written, and the acting so good, that this movie is outstanding despite of, or perhaps, because of, the limited resources. It is good old-fashioned story-telling, with nothing to distract.

In my high school college writing class we were "forced" to watch this movie...all we were told beforehand was there were three actors, one set and a black man's ass....that's it. Well upon watching the movie I felt bored for the first three or five minutes, but I soon realized this movie had so much philosophies and thoughts on social standards, etc, I couldn't help but love this movie. It's been well over a year since I've seen it, and don't remember much of the plot, except Matthew Broderick was the "master of the house" and there are two black servants, that he has always taken for granted. The whole movie is one big discussion on life, and there was one part that just made me (and several other classmates) cry. Truly a masterpiece! A must-see!