Stander

I've seen my share of South African films, being a South African myself, and I can tell you with pride and without hesitation that this was one of the best films from my country I've ever seen. I felt the protagonist's confusion and frustration. I cannot remember the last time I've wanted the bad guy to escape more than in this movie.

"ebhp1" commented on the accent, which made it difficult to understand the dialogue. I think it was a functional and very important part of the movie in an attempt to make it REAL. A movie about South Africans with an American accent? No. It's like making a British film French accents... I do have to congratulate the American actors who handled the accent so well. I even wondered if they were South African!

I take my hat off to you. A great movie with great actors.

This is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time, it really is a well scripted, acted and directed film. Thomas Jane is excellent in the title role of Andre Stander, a highly decorated Johannesburg detective who, after becoming despondent with his life in the oppressive South African police force, embarks on an audacious series of bank robberies. David O'Hara and Dexter Fletcher were also well cast as Stander's accomplices in this most enjoyable of crime capers.

The writing, script and dialogue were well crafted, whilst watching this film you might feel that Bima Stagg has a great imagination to spin such an unbelievable tale, incredibly though the film is a true story. Although the film is the tale of one mans rebellion against the system, it maintains an air of humour. Far from trivialising the story this reinforces the sheer audacity of the crime spree that ensues. I would highly recommend this film.

Hi, Stander was an absolute blast of a movie. Well directed & true the origins. Andre Stander (according to newspapers in SA)was deeply shocked by events and did feel a need to break away from what he felt was wrong, incl.the government's way at the time. Thomas Jane is a great actor and to have learned the accent - Wow! He looks so much like the real Stander. Stander as a movie is compare able to 'Blow' from Johnny Depp which was also a true 'story' movie. I felt the best thing from the movie was the fact that they made Johannesburg look so much like it did in the 80's and the cars they used, with all the different number plates, as well as the old bank names, was a classy touch. Johannesburg looks so nice and clean, like it used to be.

Now did it open worldwide, or at least in the USA, or UK on the 6 / 13th August? So did anyone manage to see it ?Because in SA it has since been on TV & DVD.

In 1976, in Johannesburg, the efficient anti-racist Homicide/Robbery Police Captain Andre Stander (Thomas Jane) has a nervous breakdown after killing an unarmed man in an apartheid protest. Stander decides to confront and mock the established corrupt system heisting twenty-six banks while working for the police department. He is captured and sentenced to thirty-two years in prison; however, he succeeds to escape with the criminals Lee McCall (Dexter Fletcher) and Allan Heyl (David Patrick O'Hara) and together they form "The Stander Gang" and rob another twenty banks in six months.

"Stander" tells the story of the notorious Afrikaner bank robber and former police captain Andre Stander. The movie works perfectly as an action movie, but if the intention was to give any political connotation to the actions of the anti-hero Stander, it completely fails. Stander is shown as an efficient but unbalanced man in love for his wife performed by the gorgeous Deborah Kara Unger that defies the system, not like a Robin Hood or to protect the black people, but for self-profit only. Thomas Jane has a great performance in the role of this complex character. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Stander – Um Policial Contra o Sistema" ("Stander – A Policeman Against the System")

After picking up the movie almost solely for the purpose of watching Tom Jane the actual content and brilliance of the story was shocking. Even after I realized it wasn't my normal kind of movie I was compelled to watch, completely caught up in the lives and fates of the characters. Even more compelling due to the fact that it tells a true story there's a sense of real involvement with the people and their story. For people born after the 70's and far away from South Africa this era is something almost make believe but this movie brings it to glorious and heart breaking true life. Great acting, great story, well worth watching.