Une saison blanche et sèche

Having just seen it on the TV again after a number of years it is a stark reminder of the terror imposed on the black population by the security apparatus of S. Africa during the years of Apartheid.

The part with Marlon Brando as the human rights lawyers is particularly good exposing the ludicrous nature of a system that is completely repressive while maintaining the fiction that it is not.

This film should be compulsory viewing in any educational course studying recent African history

A personal reminiscence:-

I was living in Zimbabwe from 87-89 and I remember when the film was being shot on location there. They were shooting the scene at the end when it is raining but it was during the dry season in Zimbabwe in the local news they recorded the fact that they'd had to make their own rain with lots of hoses etc.

We are pupils in the10th grade in Dumont d'Urville in Normandy (France). We are all sixteen and we have been learning English for six years. We watched the film A dry white season in class and we had to write a review on it.

It is a film shot by Euzhan Palcy in 1997 which is based from a novel by André Brink.

The main characters are Ben du Toit played by Donald Sutherland, Captain Stolz played by Jürgen Prochnow, Stanley played by Zakes Mokae and Gordon played by Winston Ntshona.

The plot deals with apartheid in South Africa in 1976. A naïve history teacher Ben du Toit decides to avenge his gardener's death, Gordon, a black man. He is tortured to death by the white police. Ben becomes aware of the issue of segregation in his country and he sides with the blacks.

We all liked this film because it gave another vision of apartheid, more shocking and violent than the one we had imagined. This film is educative because too many people ignore what white men did to the blacks at that time and even recently. Nowadays, colored people endure discrimination in many countries even if apartheid, slavery have been abolished, so it is a very interesting film, it shows a real and current problem : racism which still exists in our society. We don't know if it can make people's mentalities evolve but it will certainly make people question themselves.

We would recommend this film to our friends because we think people are not informed enough about apartheid.

One day in South Africa in the 1960's, a young black man was walking along the street with his aged mother. Coming along the road was a young white man. The young black man knew that apartheid law and custom meant that the white would probably barge the two blacks off the pavement and into the gutter. The law would protect him and the young black man might be imprisoned for defending himself. The young black man tensed his muscles and prepared to defend his mother, but was amazed when the Englishman stepped off the pavement and doffed his broad brimmed hat in greeting. Later on the two would become friends and allies. The white man was to become bishop Trevor Huddleston, the black man, bishop Desmond Tutu.

That story is NOT the story of A Dry White season, but it is of a kindred spirit. Like the gesture of Trevor Huddleston, the story of Ben de Tor is a gesture against apartheid. A glimmer of hope, but merely that, a flicker.

It must be five years since I saw a Dry White Season but I still remember how I felt leaving the cinema. It is a film which will stay with you.

The plot follows a white South African on an adventure through bewilderment, revelation, denial, disgust, and a futile attempt to fight a grossly unfair system.

I can't go into detail after this length of time but the cameos in this film would be worth the video rental. Marlon Brando (yes) steals the show as the lawyer who knows exactly how hopeless the fight against apartheid is but agrees to fight anyway.

The political situation today in South Africa is a world away from that of A Dry White Season. Watch it and never forget.

It's 1976. Ben du Toit (Donald Sutherland) is a liberal South African schoolmaster and a former rugby star. He is shocked by the police beating of his gardener Gordon's son but does nothing. When the kids gather to protest the teaching of Afrikaans, the police reply with violence. Gordon's son goes missing. Ben, in his sheltered life, tries to help and the police tells him that he's dead. Ben again advises Gordon to leave it alone. Gordon continues to investigate and gets arrested. Captain Stolz (Jürgen Prochnow) is the man in charge of torturing Gordon. Gordon's wife brings lawyer Stanley Makhaya (Zakes Mokae). The police claims that Gordon committed suicide. Stanley brings Ben to the Soweto township and shown the truth of his torture. Melanie Bruwer (Susan Sarandon) is a newspaper reporter. Civil rights lawyer Ian McKenzie (Marlon Brando) relents to Ben and takes on the case.

Ben is a clueless idiot at the start of the movie and that is the part that I dislike most about the movie. It would be so much better for Ben to be in denial. Sutherland plays it so wide eye and ill-informed. It would be more dramatic and better as character development that he doesn't come off as ignorant at the beginning. The court case in the middle drags on a little too much. It's often hard to switch into court like that. There isn't the shock of revelation since the movie already showed the torture earlier. This is also very heavy handed. This feels like a sermon more than a drama. Having Marlon Brando there pontificating doesn't help. The other problem is that after the court case, the movie goes back to the white folks. Even though it's not the movie intention, the black folks get sidelined. Nevertheless, it's an interesting attempt at bringing South Africa to the big screen.

We are Mrs Cisar's pupils in Dumont d'Urville high school in Caen, France. We are sixteen and we study in the 11th grade. We have been learning English for six years. We watched the film A Dry White Season in the English class and we had to sum up and give our opinion on this film.

The film takes place in South Africa, during Apartheid in 1976. A white man (Ben), who is a teacher in a white school decided to defend his gardener who was beaten to death by the police. It's the story of a white person who wants to help the blacks in their fight against segregation.

We liked this film because it made us understand the horrible situation in South Africa during Apartheid. We could never have imagined that this kind of things could have happened there, so it taught us what life during Apartheid was like. That makes the film very educational for everybody and makes our mentalities evolve. The film is very interesting because there is suspense and we didn't know if justice would be done. It also showed us that people should not be judged on the colour of their skins, but on their characters.

Even if this film is very shocking sometimes and violent, we recommended it to our friends in order to make them understand what Apartheid was and what segregation is. This is still a burning issue in our society.

Watch this film and you will know what Apartheid was really about;

Thomas Alexis Gautier Ewan