Marius Weyers Movies

An apolitical South African oil-refinery worker and soccer coach is forced into terrorism as a means of fighting back against the brutality of the apartheid regime in director Phillip Noyce's dramatic look at the life of one-time political prisoner and freedom fighter Patrick Chamusso. In the 1980s, Patrick (Derek Luke) and his wife Precious (Bonnie Henna) lived a peaceful life until one fateful day, when on an overnight trip with his team, Patrick is singled out as the prime suspect in a bombing at the refinery. Placed in solitary confinement, with his wife and family brutalized by government agent Nic Vos (Tim Robbins), the young family man is eventually cleared of charges, but his life is in shambles. Devastated and distraught, Patrick soon begins working as a rebel fighter and political operative for Nelson Mandela's African National Congress. As the oppressed country's powerful apartheid regime continues to torture and torment its citizens, the now-radicalized Patrick must disappear from his family without a trace and go undercover if he is to aid in toppling the system that destroyed his family, and forever changed his outlook on the world. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

When a series of cargo ships vanish into the open waters of the Bermuda Triangle, a team of determined specialists attempt to uncover the mystery of the planet's most perplexing phenomenon in Storm of the Century and Rose Red director Craig R. Baxley's spooky sci-fi miniseries. Billionaire Eric Benirall's (Sam Neill) ships have gone missing at an alarming rate, and it's high time to find out if there's a human factor behind the strange disappearances. With each surprising revelation the plot surrounding the Bermuda Triangle only seems to deepen, though, and as the bizarre stories about the cursed waters slowly begin adding up to a bigger picture, Benirall and his fearless crew are about to discover that the truth is most certainly always stranger than any work of fiction. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

British filmmaker Malcolm Needs writes and directs the gangster film Charlie, based on the real-life case of criminal gang boss Charlie Richardson. During the early '60s, brothers Charlie (Luke Goss) and Eddy (Langley Kirkwood) ruled the criminal underworld of South London. As he rises in power, Charlie finds himself connected with wealthy white South African businessman Richard Waldeck (Leslie Grantham). Charlie eventually starts to get involved with political crimes involving the ANC and gets caught. While on trial in 1966, his gang resorts to the horrific torturing of his enemies. The witnesses who testify against him are cruelly and unusually punished by Charlie's terror gang, leading to Judge Lawton (Antony Carrick) sentencing him to 25 years. Steven Berkoff and Anita Dobson appear as Charlie's parents. Charlie premiered in the U.K. in February of 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

A gory post-apartheid horror film concerning the resurrection of a dead general amidst the backdrop of modern South Africa, writer/director Kenneth Kaplan's longtime-in-the-making directorial debut finds the familiar vampire theme heading into new territories. As the last South African born with untainted Aryan blood, Fanus (Carl Beukes) unknowingly holds the key to giving life to the dead. As his mother, Gertrude (Aletta Bezuidenhout), and the nefarious Eugene (Danny Keogh) plot to utilize the potent plasma in reviving Fanus' super-racist father, the dysfunctional family's dark past comes to the forefront and the red stuff begins to flow in abundance. Utilizing the gruesome influence of Herschell Gordon Lewis combined with the dark social satire of George A. Romero, Kaplan's dark commentary on the human condition in South Africa is intended to deconstruct the mindset that let apartheid flourish while providing audiences with release through use of dark humor. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Friendship, politics, violence, and personal responsibility meet head on in this drama. In the late 1980s, three young women who are completing their college education share a house together in Johannesburg, South Africa. Aninka (Michele Burgers) is the daughter of wealthy Afrikaners; she is studying archeology and has personally rejected her family's pro-apartheid politics. Thoko (Dambisa Kente) is Black and receiving a degree in education; her family has little money, and her mother works as a cleaning woman to help pay her daughter's tuition. Sophie (Kerry Fox), whose British parents are well-to-do, is studying library science, and unknown to the others, she has taken a very strong position against South Africa's policy of minority rule. Sophie has joined a terrorist group determined to fight apartheid by any means necessary; under orders from the group, she places a bomb at a busy airport in Johannesburg, killing many innocent bystanders in the process. Sophie's confusion and guilt over the consequences of her actions drive a wedge between herself and her husband, a fellow activist, and it complicates her friendship with Aninka and Thoko. Writer-director Elaine Proctor won the Golden Camera award at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival for her work on Friends. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

John G. Avildsen, director of Rocky and The Karate Kid, adapts Bryce Courtenay's compassionate novel about the coming of age of a white anti-apartheid activist during the years of World War II in South Africa. Avildsen cumbersomely grafts Courtenay's tale of fighting apartheid onto a Hollywood-style fight-for-the-championship bout. Seven-year-old P.K. (Guy Witcher) is a white South African raised on his family's farm by his Zulu nanny. When his mother takes ill, he is sent away to an Afrikaner boarding school, where he is picked on and nearly killed by the school bully during a pep rally for Hitler. P.K. survives and is sent to live with his grandfather. He befriends Doc (Armin Mueller-Stahl), a jailed German musician, and a black inmate (Morgan Freeman), who teaches P.K. how to use his fists for some quick boxing moves. At 12, P.K. (now played by Simon Fenton), witnesses black inmates being cruelly humiliated by their racist white jailers. Taking note of P.K.'s fluidity for languages, his black mentor spreads the word that P.K. is the incarnation of the mythic Rain Maker, a messianic liberator who is destined to unite all the African tribes. By the time he's 18 years old, P.K. (now played by Stephen Dorff) is becoming the Great White Hope for the black Africans, boxing his way into their hearts and minds. He joins up with an old boxing foe (Alois Moyo), who is now a township activist, and takes up the apartheid struggle. But things get confusing when P.K. falls in love with the daughter (Fay Masterson) of an apartheid leader. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Though officially based on Pierre Schoendoerffer's novel L'Adieu au Roi, Farewell to the King also bears echoes of Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim--with a lot of filmmaker John Milius' own Hemingwayesque slant thrown in. During World War II, American POW Learoyd (Nick Nolte) escapes a Japanese firing squad. Hiding himself in the wilds of Borneo, Learoyd is adopted by a head-hunting tribe of Nyak Indians, who consider him "divine" because of his elaborate tattoos. Before long, Learoyd is the reigning king of the Nyaks. When British soldiers approach him to rejoin the war against the Japanese, Learoyd resists (in language so flowery that it could have been written by Sir Walter Scott). But when his own tribe is threatened by the invaders, the "king" deigns to fight for their rights. Farewell to the King is breathtakingly photographed and quite exciting at times. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A college student clashes with his co-ed roommate, then falls for her in this romantic comedy. Sheltered freshman Chris Wooden (Patrick Dempsey) arrives at his university ready to hone his writing skills. His hard-partying roommate, however, proves to be a distraction. Alex Page (Helen Slater) -- short for Alexandra -- has been placed on a guys' floor by mistake, and the aspiring actress/good-time girl drives Chris crazy. Eventually, as both students hone their respective crafts and spend more time together, they become friends and finally lovers. But Alex's freewheeling ways put a kink in things; Chris is an old-fashioned guy, and he wants a plain-vanilla girlfriend. Things come to a head when a random biker Alex promised to marry shows up looking to rearrange Chris' face. Happy Together is one of the few feature credits of Mel Damski, who has directed countless TV movies since the late '70s. Astute viewers will notice a pre-Thelma and Louise Brad Pitt in a small role. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

In this French drama, a Secret Service agent becomes a novelist after he is forced to retire. He writes about experiences he had as a spy in his novel. Adventure ensues when he and his editor, also a writer, whom the ex-spy regards as too stuffy for his own good, wind up in Africa where they must overcome their mutual dislike and investigate the murder of a renowned physicist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

It was Richard Attenborough's lifelong dream to bring the life story of Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi to the screen. When it finally reached fruition in 1982, the 188-minute, Oscar-winning Gandhi was one of the most exhaustively thorough biopics ever made. The film begins in the early part of the 20th century, when Mohandas K. Gandhi (Ben Kingsley), a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of "passive resistance," endeavoring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed. In the horrendous "slaughter" sequence, more extras appear on screen than in any previous historical epic. The supporting cast includes Candice Bergen as photographer Margaret Bourke-White, Athol Fugard as General Smuts, John Gielgud as Lord Irwin, John Mills as the viceroy, Martin Sheen as Walker, Trevor Howard as Judge Broomfield, and, in a tiny part as a street bully, star-to-be Daniel Day-Lewis. Gandhi won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

African Rage is a comparatively little-known political thriller, set in an African hospital. Top-billed Anthony Quinn plays a male nurse, assigned to care for a powerful tribal leader (Simon Sabela). With many threats against his well-being, the leader is heavily guarded around the clock. But Quinn manages to kidnap his patient, leading to a series of curious and occasionally confusing plot twists. African Rage was completed in South Africa in 1976 as Tigers Don't Cry, but not put into general American release for nearly nine years. Other alternate titles include Target of an Assassin, The Long Shot, and Fatal Assassin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An underwater treasure hunt for gold coins is threatened by the presence of sharks. ~ All Movie Guide