Endgame

ENDGAME, as written by Paula Milne and directed by Pete Travis, is a thinking person's film. The subject is the ongoing crises of the Apartheid in South Africa (here during the years 1985 - 1990, with after film commentary to 1999) and the extended secret meetings between the Apartheid regime as controlled by President Botha (Timothy West), those meetings held between the African National Congress represented by Thabo Mbeki (Chiwetel Ejiofor) with prisoner Nelson Mandela (Clarke Peters) as the heart of the blacks and the increasingly disillusioned Afrikaner Apartheidists lead by Professor Will Esterhuyse (William Hurt) convened by a British representative Michael Young (Jonny Lee Miller) acting as spokesman for his entrepreneurial boss Rudolf Agnew (Derek Jacobi) of a major British industry vested in South Africa. The talks are wired by Botha's intelligence officer Dr. Niel Barnard (Mark Strong) and level of intrigue is high. The message of the film is the struggle and final victory of democracy and the end of Apartheid in South Africa, and while the cerebral discussions by this fine group of actors is illuminating, the film gains its power from fast shots of the conditions in South Africa at the time, including rioting, terrorist acts, loss of families, and the ever present intrigue and danger surrounding those men attending the secret meetings.

The supporting cast (especially John Kani as Oliver Tambo, the venerated life long friend of Mandela) is exceptionally strong, but in the end it is the unexpected fine acting of William Hurt and the always excellent Chiwetel Ejifor who remind us how small scaled dramas can have far more impact than the big epics we are used to enduring. This film is especially excellent for informing the public about the ins and outs and meanings of the South African Apartheid and why the ending of that evil regime lighted the fuse for so many other important sociologic changes.

Grady Harp

I enjoyed this. It was interesting to see how a PPE graduate can use h's knowledge of politics as well as philosophy to approach a peace settlement negotiation. However, what the film missed out was the crucial role of such an undertaking. It failed to highlight precisely and factually what really happened in the mind of the regime before reaching the settlement and how concretely these meetings were related to that decision,

I wish there had been more dialogue and explanations from Micheal Young's side and how he was brought to conjur up such meetings. The writing was not as dramatic as the circumstances allowed them to be . However,there were good actors, but Jonny Lee Miller played his role perfectly in that he portrayed Micheal Young in a dedicated and yet a humble player in the meetings. It was right for him to have a low profile in amongst the others, but it would have given the film more punch had he been given more dialogue in putting forward the importance of such meetings with a terrorist group. After all, the film was as much about Micheal Young's initiative as it was about the end of Apartheid. A good film on the whole.

Its not a great game but a very watchable film and with South Africa somewhat topical 2009-10 (I have faith like potatoes to watch) (and Invictus in the pipeline)I enjoyed the history lesson of the film and the insight that privateers such as Michael Young helper not only the peace in south Africa but are lending a hand with Hamas as we speak and involved themselves on the Northern Ireland peace deal as well. didn't Clerk come in and steal inevitable glory from Botha and I was left wondering more about Mandelas relationship with the ANC bad guys who are in power now (the real terrorists?0 but i did enjoy the movie. it is an objective film, not over-acted, doubt if it will win any awards but don't miss it!

"Endgame," a British film that premiered on PBS' "Masterpiece Contemporary" but also played briefly in theaters in America, provides us with a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the waning days of South African Apartheid.

The time is the 1980s. While political prisoner Nelson Mandela languishes behind bars and violent uprisings rend the fabric of the nation, the white-minority Afrikaner government led by President P.W. Botha has declared the ANC (the African National Congress) to be an illegitimate terrorist organization run by communists and therefore unworthy of a seat at the table in any negotiations concerning the role of blacks in the future of South Africa. Into the breach stride a number of crucial players who are attempting – at great personal risk to themselves and their families - to bring the two opposing sides together through secretive talks being held at an estate in the English countryside. Present at that event are Michael Young (Jonny Lee Miller), a British businessman whose company has vital interests in South Africa and who sees the eventual abolishment of Apartheid as a good and necessary thing on both a professional and moral level; Thabo Mbeki (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a representative from the ANC; and Willie Esterhuyse (William Hurt), a philosophy professor who seems to see both sides of the issue and can therefore serve as an honest broker between the two factions (though the government also sees him as a potentially useful spy for its own side). Mandela (Clarke Peters) and Botha (Timothy West) also appear as characters, with the latter trying to convince the former to denounce the ANC's acts of violence, using subtle tactics of persuasion to do so.

Written by Paula Milne and directed by Pete Travis, "Endgame," which is based on the book "The Fall of Apartheid" by Robert Harvey, strikes a careful balance between conversational sit-downs, where agreements are reached and terms hashed out, and the kind of breath-bating, cloak-and-dagger espionage sequences that are a crucial part of any political thriller. The characters are all thoughtful, three-dimensional men who have strong opinions on matters but who are also open to new ideas and compromise and who often have to contend with their own fears, prejudices and self-doubts before they can finally come to a workable resolution. The movie manages to be intimate in tone while, at the same time, never neglecting the broader political and social canvas against which this small-scale drama is taking place. The result is a well-acted, informative and dramatically compelling re-creation of recent history.

And beyond its purely academic function, "Endgame" serves as an inspirational reminder that it sometimes takes just a handful of brave, morally decent and right-thinking people willing to forget their differences and to come together in a common cause to make the world a better place.

Well, my knowledge of Apartheid is limited to my knowledge of a personality called Nelson Mandela and that he led a non-violent struggle for equality. That's about it. So, when I saw this title and the good reviews that it had received - I decided to try it out.

Unfortunately for me, I was thrown into South African history (this was expected) and I was surrounded with over 20 character (this was not expected). Botha, Thabo, Mbeki, Alie Sachs, Wille Esterhuyse, some gold consolidations organization, a PR agent - within the first twenty minutes, my head was spinning. And thus, whenever a new character came on screen, I had to press the pause button and look up Wikipedia. That is how I watched this movie.

So, for the first 35 minutes or so, I spent an equal amount of time reading Wikipedia (which was not bad, I got a lot of info) but what this means is that Endgame is not meant for the viewer who is not ready to break a sweat. Unless your knowledge of South African apartheid is not up to scratch, Endgame will make little sense by itself.

However, once you know the characters and their motives the movie turns into an extremely compelling drama and a case study of how negations are done. This would make a terrific add-on to a history course. It is a very educational movie and the acting by William Hurt and Chiwetel Ejiofor was excellent and very convincing. The direction was also very well done and the script writing was very effective (considering the nature of the subject).

In the end, this should have been a 3-4 hour miniseries. The treatment of Apartheid with proper introduction to the major characters ought to get that much time. Unfortunately Endgame is all that we get. Go ahead and watch it - it is worth the effort.