Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Claudio Carvalho The South African lawyer Sarah Barcant (Hilary Swank) travels from New York back to her hometown to represent the member of the Parliament Alex Mpondo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission since torturer police officer Dirk Hendricks (Jamie Bartlett) has made an application for amnesty. The parents of Steve Sizela request Sarah to represent them also since their son that was arrested with Mpondo but has gone missing. Hendricks uses one break in the trial to threaten Mpondo, promising to destroy his political career telling that he was a traitor. But Mpondo, who is a man traumatized with the torture, anticipates and tells what has happened to Steve Sizela and him in the hands of Hendricks and his superior Piet Müller (Ian Roberts). Will the remains of Steve be found and the truth disclosed?"Red Dust" is a very well-acted drama about amnesty of torturers, with stunning performance of Chiwetel Ejiofor. The story takes place in South Africa post-Apartheid but could have been in South America, for example, where many torturers have granted their amnesty despite their cruel past during dictatorships. Truth and reconciliation seem to be very difficult to achieve in these situations, when usually torturers grant their freedom and victims are forced to forget what they did to them and live with their traumas and losses. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): Not Available

[email protected] POSSIBLE SPOILERSNo one is likely to pick up a DVD of Red Dust without knowing that it is about South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Hilary Swank stars as a South African exile who returns to her home town as a lawyer representing Alex Mpondo (Chiwetel Ejiofer), a member of the South African parliament who was tortured by a prison guard, Pete Muller (Ian Roberts), who is seeking to escape prison by testifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. They could certainly have found an actress who has or could imitate a South African accent; Ms. Swank makes no attempt whatsoever to cover her unmistakably American accent. Nevertheless she is the only well-known actor in the movie, and it would probably not have been made without her or someone equally well known. She does a passable job. However, Ejiofer and Muller (pronounced in the German way with an umlat over the "u") are outstanding as is Jamie Barlett as the chief of police, responsible for murdering Mpondo's comrade and fellow prisoner. The torture scenes are shown in brief flashes but they are vivid and believable. What is not believable is the Truth and Reconciliation process -- except that it actually happened. "Red Dust" should be seen for that reason alone because it was and is unbelievable that the ANC prisoners could actually forgive the torturers, and this is as close as we are likely to get to seeing the process in action.

bob the moo In South Africa the Truth & Reconciliation Commission hear the confessions of those in the former power who took part in crimes, torture and violations of human rights. Those that confess are granted immunity and it is only those that try to conceal their involvement who are open for prosecution. When former police officer Hendricks confesses to the torture of Alex Mpondo, it starts a chain of events. Mpondo pans to contest the amnesty of Hendricks despite his hazy recollection and wants to know what became of fellow activist Steve Sizela, who was arrested at the same time and never seen again. South African born lawyer Sarah Barcant returns at the request of her father to represent Mpondo and try to uncover the truth behind the story.Forgiveness and healing are two words that are easy to say but very difficult to do. It is near impossible for me to understand what the village councils held in Rwanda must be like, where those that massacred others must confess all to gain amnesty; likewise I cannot comprehend the challenges that all involved with the TRC in South Africa have faced – to have people admit to so much but get off with nothing, as it were. This film doesn't really manage to get close to examining that pain because instead it goes for more of a courtroom drama approach that uses the TRC as its frame rather than being the focus. In doing this it still manages to be interesting, even though the serious tone and real setting means it ploughs a pretty straight furrow and cannot indulge in the genre histrionics that it occasionally suggests it wants to do.As a bit of basic insight into the Truth & Reconciliation Commission, the film is still interesting and will probably move those that are somewhat unaware of the situation. However for me it would have been much more interesting to allow a debate to rage, for the sheer complexities of the situation to be aired but, by going for a mystery approach it becomes morally quite clean-cut and not as reality has shown it often can be – only towards the end does it take the time for a bit of thought, which is fine but I would have liked it to have been part of the film rather than an epilogue. The cast would probably have taken to this challenge as well because, although they are quite good, nobody really sets the world on fire. Swank deserves credit for doing the film but she is not that good and seems to have been added to provide a bankable star to drive the courtroom action. Ejiofor is better because he has more complexity to him, although I would have liked him to share more scenes with Bartlett, who is also strong in a difficult role. Roberts is poor because the film uses him as a nice clear baddie for the audience to hate. The direction is mostly good, setting up interesting shots here and there – but the film is mostly helped by the good use of locations, which are convincing and set the sense of place very well.Overall this is a good film but not as moving or as thought-provoking as it could have been. By leading with a straight thriller type plot, the debate and the insight is left to the minority of moments and, although interesting is not all that I had hoped for. The cast are good and the Western cast deserve credit for taking on a worthy subject. This deserves a bigger audience than it is have received and is worth watching if you get the chance.

puckhead95 I saw this film at the 2005 Palm Springs International Film Festival. I went in with the assumption that if it stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Hilary Swank it had to be at least decent. Well, after a kind of a slow start, I was far from disappointed. In fact, I was quite pleased with the final product.I must admit the Afrikaaner and Xhosa(?) accented English of some of the actors were kind of hard to understand but like seeing "Waking Ned Devine", "Trainspotting" or any other film with heavy-accented actors I adjusted after about 15 minutes. And I was trying to figure out why Hilary Swank was supposed to be South African and sounded like she was trying to put on an accent but sounded very American... as if she was making a weak attempt at putting on the accent. But later in the film as more is revealed about her character and how she moved to the US as a teen you begin to understand how she might have lost some or most of her accent. So it began to make sense that only certain words might have a Afrikaaner lilt to them.I know it's a little weak for one to use film as education but one of the great things about this film is that it was interesting to see a dramatization of a Truth and Reconciliation trial. I'd heard about the T and R process in South Africa after the fall of apartheid but I didn't really know how it worked.The final verdict is that although some of the scenes felt a little contrived, this was overall a very strong film. The closing sequence where the "truth" comes out was the strong finish every film hopes for. A definite must see for anyone who cares about what happens outside their borders.