The protagonist of the book is Ben Du Toit (in the movie he is played by Donald Sutherland). He is a teacher in a school and was an ordinary white man believing in the system until his black gardener’s son, Jonathan disappeared in the riots. He helped his father Gordon (Winston Ntshona) in trying to find Jonathan. The only thing they found was that Jonathan was murdered... In the desperate search for his son’s body Gordon is arrested and was murdered in the prison as Ben has found out later. The official version was that Gordon had committed a suicide.
Now his belief in the system is shaken and he finally realizes the real situation. He wants to bring Gordon’s murderers to justice at every cost. Everyone is against him. The only help he has in Melanie Bruwer (Susan Sarandon) the journalist of British descent and black taxi driver Stanley Makhaya (Zakes Mokae). Three of them are causing troubles to Captain Stoltz (Jurgen Prochnow) the person they suspect is guilty for the Gordon’s murder. Stoltz is of course taking some measures as a response. He is quite a powerful opponent since he is working in Security Police. In this fight for the truth, Ben looses his friends, job, and family, even church has left him. He realises (slowly) that police arrests, tortures and kills innocent Blacks. This book was written in 1979.
The film was based on the book ten years later. Basically everything from the book can be seen in the movie. Now we shall discuss the main differences and similarities. The central figure, Ben, has put at the stake everything he had. As he says in the book:”Once in the lifetime, just once, one should have faith in something and risk everything for it”. He considers fighting for the truth to be his moral obligation. He is very naive, he even talks with Stoltz, still wanting to believe that all the injustices are just a mistake. In the book, he is much more calm and patient. He had a discussion with Stanley who was drunk and entered his house where the whole family had lunch, while in the movie he even had a fight with him. In the film, he slapped the principle of the school after his son was expelled from the school. Also, he was threatening to Stoltz only in the film. In the book, Ben has two daughters and a son while in the movie he has only one daughter and one son. Ben has a dog, the golden retriever only in the movie. This was done so the picture of the perfect family is even more reinforced. This way the contrast between the life of Whites in luxury and Blacks hardly surviving in the townships is increased. Melanie, the journalist, is much less developed character in the movie then in the book. Her role is to support Ben mentally and help him with the information. She has been his “light in the gloom”. Stanley is there to provide crucial information, he knows a lot of people who will help them along the way. He also gives mental support to Ben when he is in crisis and wants to quit. Ben has “caused” a lot of problems to the people who helped him. Some of them where banished, imprisoned, even killed. In the book Gordon’s wife, Emily (Thoko Ntshinga) commits a suicide because her oldest son was shot (her husband and one son were already killed). In the movie she is beaten to death by the police practically in front of her children. This illustrates the cruelty of the police who hurts innocent and helpless women and children.
In the end indivertible happens. Ben is murdered. He was kicked by a car. In the movie this was done by Captain Stoltz, while in the book it can only be assumed. Captain Stoltz is even more evil in the movie than in the book. Justice wins in the end, at least in the movie where Stanley shoots and kills Stoltz. Ben’s proofs are saved and they reached newspapers. Misdeeds of the Special Branch are thus uncovered...
The story is told as if Ben was writing the book (in the first person) accept the beginning and the end, which are told by André Brink (the third person). The book has too many long, pointless descriptions, for example the description of the Melanie’s room. This makes the story too slow. Characters are two-dimensional. The story is very simplified, it is black and white. In the movie, this is corrected, but not enough. The movie has the advantage that we do not know what will happen until the end. On the other hand, we know Ben’s destiny from the beginning of the book. The book is written retroactively. The camera is bad, and the acting could be much better even though the movie has good casting.
Both the book and the movie tell us a lot about situation of the Blacks during apartheid in South Africa. They are also presenting how propaganda can make people believe in lies. They describe what happens to most of the people who opened their eyes and tried to help. They tell us a lot about the history of South Africa, many historical facts. This is their main quality.
