SummaryBen du Toit is a schoolteacher who always has considered himself a man of caring and justice, at least on the individual level. When his gardener's son is brutally beaten up by the police at a demonstration by black school children, he gradually begins to realize his own society is built on a pillar of injustice and exploitation.
Directed By:Euzhan Palcy
Written By:André P. Brink, Colin Welland, Euzhan Palcy
A Dry White Season
Metascore
Generally Favorable
68
User score
Generally Favorable
6.6
My Score
Drag or tap to give a rating
Hover and click to give a rating
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
68
63% Positive
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
37% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
Donald Sutherland is perfectly cast and quietly effective as a man who will not be turned aside, who does not wish misfortune upon himself or his family, but cannot ignore what has happened to the family of his friend.
80
A wrenching picture about South Africa that makes no expedient compromises with feel-good entertainment values, A Dry White Season displays riveting performances and visceral style.
75
Here's a good, honorable, but not great anti-apartheid movie, the first directed by a black woman. A Dry White Season unravels when it opts for a wrap-up-the-loose-ends thriller finish, but there's no faulting the level of acting or the level of commitment in it. [17 Sept 1989, p.B4]
70
Dry White Season is no less predictable than its predecessors, but its frankness and sincerity matter more than its fundamental bluntness.
60
Like its predecessors, A Dry White Season is too reserved to effectively depict the hell of South Africa. Its most powerful moments occur in the courtroom, in jail cells and morgues filled with dead black children when its starched white protagonist is safely off-screen. [06 Oct 1989, p.6]
50
Marlon Brando is airily light and masterly as the veteran anti-apartheid barrister who takes the case even though he knows that he can't get anywhere with the rigged court. He saves the picture for the (short) time onscreen. But the director, Euzhan Palcy, seems lost; her work is heavy-handed, and the script (by Colin Welland and the director, from a novel by Andre Brink) is earnest and didactic.
40
Like Cry Freedom, it's still whites debating racial injustice: fine for a book published in Afrikaans a decade ago, but a poor premise for a message movie.
User score
Generally Favorable
6.6
71% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
14% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
14% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
May 14, 2018
3
Le film standard qui dénonce l'injustice dans le monde et en l'occurrence l'apartheid en Afrique du Sud. Le seul intérêt véritable de ce déballage à charge -et à raison d'une certaine façon- réside dans la distribution très judicieusement choisie qui compte assurément son parterre de stars. Pour le reste, ça nous en touche une sans faire bouger l'autre, tant la banalité du discours progressiste du vivre_ensemble a un air de déjà vu, alors que la guimauve ici et là tenter d'enrober le tout et de sauver la face dans sa dénonciation du racisme, une fois n'est pas coutume, de part... et d'autre. Tout cela demeure passablement, malgré de bonnes intentions, trop ennuyeux pour qu'on s'y intéresse autrement que d'un oeil distrait pour ne pas dire endormi.
Production Company:
- Davros Films
- Star Partners II Ltd.
- Sundance Productions
Release Date:Sep 20, 1989
Duration:1 h 37 m
Rating:R
Tagline:One man has opened his eyes to the truth.
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
Tokyo International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
