Disgrace (2008) Reviews

John Malkovich stars in director Steve Jacobs' adaptation of J.M. Coetzee's Booker Prize-winning novel concerning a Cape Town educator whose flight from scandal leads him into a direct confrontation with the lingering demons of apartheid. Fastidious Cape Town college professor David Lurie (Malkovich) may see himself as somewhat impervious, but he's about to bring about his own downfall due to a selfish and foolhardy relationship with a student who isn't afraid to drag their clandestine affair screaming into the light. When controversy erupts on campus as a result of the affair, David beats a hasty retreat to the countryside in order to lie low on his daughter Lucy's (Jessica Haines) remote farm in the Eastern Cape. However, David's fears for his daughter's isolation are soon confirmed when father and daughter are violently attacked by three black youths. In the aftermath of the horrific siege, David is deeply shaken to learn that one of their assailants is in fact a relative of trusted worker Petrus (Eriq Ebouaney), who lives peacefully alongside Lucy in the South African brush, and has even begun constructing a home at the edge of her property. Can these people somehow find grace in a country that's still struggling with its tragic history, or is that history destined to repeat itself forever into the future? ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi