Long Night's Journey into Day (1999)

Synopsis: After dismantling the institutional apartheid of South Africa, the newly-elected government faced the daunting task of coming to terms with the brutal legacy of racism, repression, and violence... After dismantling the institutional apartheid of South Africa, the newly-elected government faced the daunting task of coming to terms with the brutal legacy of racism, repression, and violence that dominated the nation's history, and determining whom should be held accountable for these crimes against humanity. Toward that objective, the government appointed the Rev. Desmond Tutu to head up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), whom offered to consider amnesty--on a case by case basis--to perpetrators of politically motivated crimes, so long as the participants promised full disclosure of all facts at publicly-held hearings. Their goal: to heal South Africa's wounds through national catharsis and reconciliatory justice, and to create a foundation of truth upon which to build a new, more just society. Of the over 7,000 cases presented to the TRC, this documentary focuses on four presumably typical--though equally complicated and emotional--amnesty cases: the plea filed by the four young men from Cape Town jailed for the murder of Amy Biehl--a white Fulbright scholar from Stanford University; the murder and incineration of two school teacher/activists--Fort Calata and Matthew Goniwe--by white police in rural Cradock; African National Congress radical Robert McBride's hearing for the car bombing that resulted in the deaths of three young white women in Durban; and the case of the "Guguletu 7," in which seven young black men where recruited into a revolutionary faction set-up by a black double-agent, and then murdered by the police as terrorists. Comprised of trial footage, police testimonials, newsreels, and interviews with both victims and perpetrators, American documentary team Reid and Hoffmann have created an exceptional documentary that serves as an effective and chilling parable of humanity's capacity for both depthless cruelty and deeply-felt compassion. [More]

Director: Frances Reid, Deborah Hoffmann

Director: Frances Reid, Deborah Hoffmann
Studio: Seventh Art Releasing