Aletta Bezuidenhout Movies
The many emotional scars left by South Africa's history of institutionalized racism come under the microscope in this drama. As South Africa comes to terms with the legacy of apartheid, their government has created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in which the perpetrators of racial violence and injustice must come face to face with their victims if they are to be forgiven for their crimes. Langston Whitfield (Samuel L. Jackson) is an African-American journalist who is assigned to cover these hearings by The Washington Post; Whitfield doubts the efficacy of this process, and sets out to interview Col. De Jager (Brendan Gleeson), a notorious former officer of the South African police who was famous for his violence against blacks in order to put this method to the test. While in South Africa, Whitfield meets Anna Malan (Juliette Binoche), an Afrikaner poet who is covering the hearing for a radio station and is both appalled and disturbed by the details of the violence inflicted against her countrymen. After striking up a friendship, Whitfield and Malan become romantically involved as they try to come to terms with their feelings about what they've learned. Also screened under the title Country of My Skull, In My Country was adapted from a book by South African author Antjie Krog. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Samuel L. Jackson, Juliette Binoche, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Carl Beukes, Danny Keogh, (more)
- 1998
The title of this South African submission for the foreign language Oscar translates as "magic," or the ability to set things right. The story takes place outside rural Toorwater, where railroad-depot manager Hendrik MacDonald (Marius Weyers) lives some distance from the town with his unhappy family -- wife Katrina (Aletta Bezuidenhout), who finds her Hendrik inattentive; their son Willem (Larry Leyden), shocked into silence two years earlier; and sensitive teen daughter Emma (Liezel van der Merwe). Then one morning they awaken to find wild animals in an abandoned circus train which has been shunted off to the wrong station. Trainers and performers soon arrive, and the circus brings paljas to the remote railroad family. After the circus troupers leave, clown-mime Manuel (Ellis Pearson) stays on, moving into a nearby shack, befriending Willem and teaching him magic and clown arts. Although these events have a positive effect on the family, the local townspeople are threatened by the changes they see. Filmed simultaneously in an English version. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marius Weyers, Aletta Bezuidenhout, (more)
- 1990
In this stark drama, Wouter Fourie (Michael O'Brien), a young man who has just been released from a stint of service in the South African Defense Force, is attempting to put his life back together after his harrowing experiences as an unwilling defender of apartheid. He grew up in a guilt-ridden and constricted Calvinist community, and still lives in it. Thus, when he tries to rekindle his relationship with his wife Aletta (Aletta Bezuidenhout), and simultaneously bring some healing to himself by embarking on a course of erotic experimentation, his upbringing, his trauma, and his genuine guilt combine to work against him -- with tragic results. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aletta Bezuidenhout
- 1983
This film on apartheid belabors its message on the outmoded, racist use of "passes" for blacks -- for without a pass at this point in time, a black South African has no identity, he or she cannot work, nor get food, nor hold out any hope for survival for the future. So when James (Peter SePuma) a young black without a pass finds out his white employer killed a black man whom he thought had broken into his house and attacked his wife, he uses his knowledge to get the one thing that means the most to him -- his own pass. Justice may work in mysterious ways, because just as the deserving young James obtains the dead man's pass in the end, his boss gets away with murder. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aletta Bezuidenhout
