John Kani Movies

Vantage Point director Pete Travis turns his attention from high-profile political assassinations to the high-risk talks that ushered in the end of apartheid while securing the release of Nelson Mandela in this historical drama starring William Hurt, Chiwetel Ejiofer, Mark Strong, and Johnny Lee Miller. The time is the late '80s, a crucial period in the history of South Africa. President P.W. Botha is hanging on to power by a thread as the African National Congress (ANC) takes up arms against apartheid and the country tumbles toward insurrection. A British mining concern called Consolidated Gold is convinced that their interests would be better served in a stable South Africa, and they quietly dispatch Michael Young, their head of public affairs, to open an unofficial dialogue between the bitter rivals. Assembling a reluctant yet brilliant team to pave the way to reconciliation by confronting obstacles that initially seem insurmountable, Young places his trust in ANC leader Thabo Mbeki and Afrikaner philosophy professor Willie Esterhuyse. It is their empathy that will ultimately serve as the catalyst for change by proving more powerful than the terrorist bombs that threaten to disrupt the peaceful dialogue. As the story shifts between Mandela's jail cell, Botha's chambers, ANC headquarters, and a rented car occupied by a British bureaucrat, the prospect for peace becomes more than just a distant hope. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

An aging hotel chef travels to the half-buried desert town of Fairlands to attend the funeral of her only daughter, only to meet the grandson she never knew she had in director Threes Anna's semi-surreal drama. It's been years since Melody has returned to Fairlands, and in the years since her last visit the town has been almost entirely buried by red sands carried on sweeping winds. Even the once-prosperous Paradise Hotel has nearly been swallowed up by the encroaching desert -- the lettering of its large sign just barely peering out over miles of nothingness. Nearly everyone Melody had ever known in Fairlands has since passed away, and now the only people left in this dying town are the families of the few remaining prospectors who scour local diamond mines in search of jewels that will put food on the table. In the streets, a roving gang of feral children led by the charismatic River move forward with plans to create a small army that will rule the territory on the backs of tamed ostriches. When Melody learns that River is her long lost grandson and that his father Scoop doesn't seem bothered by the boy's eccentric behavior, her attempts to win the boy's favor by baking a pie made with ostrich eggs immediately backfires. Later, after discovering that Scoop had intercepted all of Melody's letters to her daughter June in addition to ensuring that none of June's letters reached their intended destination, the enraged mother confronts the unrepentant swindler as a sandstorm descends upon the town and River's gang launches a violent attack on Scoop's house. Subsequently setting out into the blinding winds in search of her missing grandchild, Melody eventually finds River before the pair is sent tumbling into the sand-swept hotel. It is here, in the belly of this strange underworld formerly known as the Paradise Hotel, that the memories of the past will drive Melody and River to confront their painful history in an effort to finally understand the profound effect that June's death has had on both of their lives. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This drama muses upon the brotherly love that develops between best friends and the devastating effects the intervention of reality can have upon heartfelt dreams. Kini and Adams live in a dull, dusty rural South African community and both are dreaming of leaving it behind to find fortune in the big city. To this end, they begin fixing up a battered old automobile. As hardscrabble farmers, neither has money and getting car-parts is a real challenge. That Kini is married to the domineering Aida and has a daughter also presents an obstacle. But the real break between the friends happens when a rock quarry opens and the fast-witted Kini is hired as a supervisor while Adams remains a regular grunt. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

With genuine laughter and sympathy for those on all sides this entertaining comedy takes a sharp satirical poke at modern society in post-apartheid South Africa by telling the story of an idealistic young African-American couple from LA who come to make a better life in Johannesburg following the election of Nelson Mandela. Curtis, the husband, is a native of Soweto, a nearby shanty town, and dreams of beautifying his former home by planting many trees. Pragmatic wife Cora has difficulty reconciling herself to the primitive conditions of shanty town life. Both are lost in their idealized visions of what Mandela-controlled South Africa will be like. Unfortunately, their illusions are immediately shattered soon after stepping of the plain and meeting Curtis' street-savvy nephew Looksmart when black gangsters show up and steal everything they have. Meanwhile, in a different plotline, Adrian, a white student agonizes over the ways in which he will inform his conservative parents that he is engaged to Thandeka, a black woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Schoolteacher Ben du Toit (Donald Sutherland) has been insulated all his life from the horrors of apartheid in his native South Africa. Perhaps he really didn't want to know. When the son of his black gardener is arrested and beaten as a result of a schoolboy protest in Soweto, at first he imagines the police must have had their reasons. However, the boy is picked up again, and this time he doesn't come back. Ben promises his servant that he will look into the incident, and discovers that the boy was killed simply to gratify the violent urges of Captain Stolz (Jurgen Prochnow), a "special branch" policeman. At long last he has gotten a glimpse into the truly arbitrary and violent nature of the system he has so long benefitted from, and he hires Ian Mackenzie (Marlon Brando) to prosecute the killer. It is a foregone conclusion that Stolz will not be punished, but Mackenzie rises to new heights of withering sarcasm and irony in the courtroom. This situation turns Ben into a radical firebrand, which alienates him from his white friends and neighbors, as well as members of his family. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Filmed on location, An African Dream stars John Kani as a black African resident of the early 20th century who spends several years in England. Having received a "proper" white man's education, he returns to his homeland as a teacher. While his illusions about bridging the gap between the white and black populations in Africa are doomed to failure, he finds a unexpected kindred spirit in the form of Kitty Aldridge. A white resident of a recently established British colony, Kitty is attracted to the idealistic Kani, and he to her. That their relationship fosters resentment from others is indicated by the "PG for violence" rating bestowed upon An African Dream. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Marigolds in August was written by Athol Fugard, who in the early 1980s was South Africa's most celebrated playwright. Fugard's intense political opinions were enough for the USSR to object to Marigolds being shown in the 1980 Berlin Festival, but the objections were dropped when it was learned that Fugard had already built up a strong fan following in Eastern Europe (for various reasons, the film was not released in the US until 1984). Winston Ntshona stars as a black South African gardener who travels by foot into the white community looking for a job. Upon arriving, Ntshona discovers that another black, John Kani, may have been hired for that job. Ntshoa ruins the chances for himself and Kani by accusing the other man of planning a theft. Both men are eventually hired by a fellow outcast, a white poacher (played by Anthol Fugard himself). The message would seem to be that if the have-nots of the world stick together, it matters little how badly they're treated by the "haves." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on the novel by Doris Lessing, The Grass is Singing stars Karen Black as a successful career woman based in South Africa. Ms. Black gives up the relative comfort of city life when she falls in love with a bush farmer. The core of the film is Karen's efforts to assimilate herself into her forbidding new environment. John Thaw co-stars as the man in her life. Filmed on location in Zambia, it was released in the US in 1984 under the title Killing Heat. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide