''Forgiveness'' is a 2004 South African

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

dealing with the effects of the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

system and the difficulty of reconciliation. It was directed by

Ian Gabriel Ian Gabriel is a South African film and commercials director based in Cape Town, South Africa. He directed the film ''Forgiveness'' starring Arnold Vosloo, which treats the theme of forgiveness in post-apartheid South Africa. And directed a f ...

and stars

Arnold Vosloo Arnold Vosloo (born 16 June 1962) is a South African-American actor. He is famous for roles such as Imhotep in '' The Mummy'' and ''The Mummy Returns'', Colonel Coetzee in ''Blood Diamond'', Pik van Cleef in ''Hard Target'', Dr. Peyton Westlak ...

, Zane Meas, Quanita Adams and

Denise Newman Denise Newman (later Denise St Aubyn Hubbard; 19 February 1924 – 22 January 2016) was a British diver who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics. Early life She was born on 19 February 1924 in Hornsey, London. Her father was Percy Arthur New ...

Plot

Tertius Coetzee, a young

South African Police The South African Police (SAP) was the national police force and law enforcement agency in South Africa from 1913 to 1994; it was the ''de facto'' police force in the territory of South West Africa (Namibia) from 1939 to 1981. After South A ...

constable during

, is granted amnesty by the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state act ...

for torturing and killing a

Coloured Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. Sout ...

ANC The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election installe ...

activist. Haunted by his brutal past, Coetzee travels to a West Coast fishing village to find the man's family and eventually ask their forgiveness.

Cast

as Tertius Coetzee *

Quanita Adams Quanita Adams is stage and screen actress living in Cape Town, South Africa. She has performed in the movies ''Forgiveness'' (2004, alongside Arnold Vosloo), ''Cape of Good Hope'' (2004) and ''Skeem'' (2011). She has appeared on stage in n ...

as Sannie Grootboom *

Christo Davids Christo Lloyd Davids (born 20 August 1983) is a South African filmmaker and actor. He is known for his roles in the films ''Forgiveness'', ''Ernest in the Army'' and ''A Boy Called Twist''. He is also the Artistic Director of Cape Heart Theatre ...

as Ernest Grootboom *

Zane Meas The name Zane may be a given name or a surname. Its western usage derives from the Venetian form of ''Gianni'' or an alternate spelling of the German and Jewish name ''Zahn''. An Arabic name Zain, Zayn, or as it is often anglicized Zane, is an Arab ...

as Hendrik Grootboom

Reception

''The New York Times'' remarked that 'Gabriel's sluggish direction is offset by atmospheric visuals that transform water droplets into glass beads and the ocean into an oily canvas speckled with bobbing gulls. Shooting on high-definition digital video, Giulio Biccari bleaches the coastline to a dusty gray, mirroring the characters’ motives and adding weight to a script that's frustratingly cagey.' ''Slant Magazine'' gave the film two stars and questioned its structure, saying, 'No one will accuse Gabriel of pushing a glossy commentary about reparations in South Africa, only a shabby melodrama. Ultimately, the film's stilted design is more transparent than clever, for which there shouldn't be any excuse.' ''Forgiveness'' has won awards at both the

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, ...

and the

Cape Town International Film Festival A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. The ...

References

External links

''Forgiveness'' official website
*
''Forgiveness''
at allmovie
''Forgiveness''
at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

Apartheid films 2004 films Afrikaans-language films English-language South African films 2000s political drama films Films shot in the Western Cape South African drama films 2004 drama films Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa) Works about apartheid in South Africa {{SouthAfrica-film-stub