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Directed by Tom Hooper. Starring Hillary Swank, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jamie Bartlett, Ian Roberts. Drama. Synopsis: A South African native turned New York lawyer returns to her native South Africa to represent the interests of a former poltical agitator turned member of Parliament, who is opposing the amnesty request of the former police officer who beat and tortured him and his friend, before the Truth and Reconciliation committee.

This film takes on one of the more amazing stories of the last twenty years or so, the progress towards reconciliation and the change in government in South Africa. Though it hasn't gotten the attention such a monumental task might deserve, it is almost unbelievable that there has been a-relatively-peaceful change in government and effort to build a multi-cultural society in the former apartheid country.

Considering that very real historic backdrop, that is still playing out, any movie that tackles the awesome topic of victims facing their torturers really has its work cut out to do it justice. I think Red Dust, though flawed in some respects, does a very good job of this.

The story centers around two primary characters, Alex (the shockingly versatile Chiwetel Ejiofor...Amistad, Four Brothers), a former member of the ANC party that was one of the most aggressive in trying ot overthrow the former apartheid government, who is opposing the amnesty application of his former tormentor, Dirk Hendricks (Jamie Bartlett) who must go before the Truth and Reconciliation committee and detail his crimes, including his torture of Alex and his friend, whose body has not been found in the fourteen years since.

Representing Alex is Sarah Barcant (Hillary Swank Iron Jawed Angels Insomnia), a native South African who tasted the brunt of the apartheid government as a teenager for the crime of dating a black man, who left her country and is now a notable defense lawyer in New York City. Both Sarah and Alex have their own demons to exorcise.

The film starts off slowly, but builds well in its drama and mini surprising ending. This is, in effect, a court room drama with much of the relevant story told in flashback, a technique that is used very frequently but is not always effective. It worked for me here.

Whenever two characters are as vital to the plot as Alex and Sarah, the chemistry between them is very important. Ejiofor and Swank do a pretty good job here, although with such two talented actors, I expected it to be for the ages. There is no implication of a romance, though that might seem to be the logical story line based on what we learn in the first few minutes of the film. They come to more deeply understand and trust each other, which is necessary to the plot. 

The surprise standout in the acting department is Jamie Bartlett as Dirk, who gives a great multi dimensional performance as the bad guy looking for redemption, and is at turns sadistic, disgusting, empathetic, and admirable. Yeah, I think he pulled it off, i think. Piet Muller (Ian Roberts) is also notable as the unrepentant apartheid hit man.

The movie is filmed on location in South Africa, and many of the actors are obviously South Africans and a good part of the dialogue is in Afrikaans, the language of the region. It is beautifully shot and felt authentic.

Red Dust is a very good story, fiction based on events that are all too real. I didn't see any attempt to ram a political message home, but I'm sure South Africans of different political persuasions might disagree. There is no amazing ending or great action sequences, but a story this good with actors doing this good of a job will, I bet, hold your interest from opening credits to ending credits. 

Directed by Katja von Garnier. Hillary Swank, Anjelica Huston, Frances O'Connor, Vera Farmiga, Brooke Smith, Laura Fraser, Julia Ormond, Molly Parker, Patrick Dempsey, Bob Gunton. Drama. Synopsis: A look at some of the young women who were instrumental in the passage of the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote throughout the United States

This film is an HBO production that I first saw a couple of years ago and just watched again on DVD for the second time. It is, without question, one of the better movies in a distinguished litany of HBO productions. The movie focuses on a roughly ten year period in the early twentieth century as the long time woman's suffrage (voting rights) movement came to a head and final conclusion with the passage of the 19th amendment. The movie uses several real life characters and, happily, background research shows that it gets the main events and circumstances correct with regard to historical accuracy.

I realize the need for creative license and interpretation in all movies about real life events, and the issue of historical interpretation and ambiguity when it comes to events of which there are no living participants or first hand witnesses when the film is made. Having said that, I still cringe when period piece movies either make up or change known and undisputed historical facts (like Murder in the First).Iron Jawed Angels does not do that and the script writer and director deserve special commendations for that.

The story is laid out with women's rights icon Alice Paul (Hillary Swank Million Dollar Baby) as the protagonist, but the cast is really an ensemble one, and all of the major characters, as well as the minor ones, deliver strong performances. The infinitely likable Frances O'Connor plays Lucy Burns, Alice Paul's historical suffrage partner and the combustible fire behind the aggressive portion of the movement.

The crux of the story is the growing division between the "older" generation of suffragettes, led by Carrie Catt (the wonderful Anjelica Huston Gardens of Stone) and the "younger", more militant faction led by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. The older faction still held onto the old way of gaining ground, trying to win the vote for women on a state by state basis (with the Western states leading the way), a strategy that had led to 9 of the 48 states enfranchising women by 1912, the start of the movie. The younger faction advocated more aggressive action, more direct political attack on President Wilson, and, most importantly, a constitutional amendment. Of course, as with any historical movie in which we know the outcome, we can guess that the two factions ultimately come together, if not personally but in ultimate success. (The movie does a good job of dealing with the generation gap between the two factions as the real point of contention without laboring the point)

Other strong characters who you will like in the film include the real life Doris Stevens (Laura Fraser, a Isabelli Rosselini lookalike) and Mabel Vernon (Brooke Smith, who is so good at immersing herself into a character that I actually did not believe the Bible of movie info, imdb.com, when I realized that she played the surviving kidnap victim in Silence of the Lambs).The beautiful Julia Ormond plays real life Inez Milholland, the literal face of the more militant movement.  Two other main characters who I was not able to verify as real life-I'm not saying they weren't- are Vera Farmiga's (Running Scared, In Tranzit) Ruth Wiesczelaw and Molly Parker's Emily Leighton, who plays the wife of previously anti-suffrage Senator Tom Leighton, a women who is disinterested in politics and the world initially and, of course, ultimately becomes invaluible to the movement. If these two are composite of fictional characters, they certainly fit the bill as representing the nameless rank and file women who were crucial with their support: Farmiga's representation of the working class immigrant woman and Parker's "society" woman who, on the face of things as they were viewed in the early twentieth century, had no real reason to be so driven to gain the vote but did.

Another thing I liked about this story is that it paid tribute, albeit briefly, to other important issues and historical figures, such as Ida B. Wells, the African American civil rights hero, and the issue of the role of black women in the movement, and Fiorello LaGuradia, future mayor of New York and namesake of the airport so many of us are familiar with, and the homage to historical figures who were not at the forefront of this movement, but supported it anyway.

Happily, this is a female character driven serious film, a relative rarity especially when you consider that women are the majority of the world's population. It would have been easy to cop out and tell this story through the eyes of the politicians and make them the heroes, but Angels does not do that, sparing us the irritating fiction of seeing politicians who came on board only when it was politically expedient to do so as the heroes, while ignoring the people who risked love, freedom, and their lives to make it happen. We've seen enough of that crap in historical movies, such as the many films that appallingly portray FBI agents as the heroes of the civil rights movement. (Sorry if that is just a little too much personal opinion for this otherwise completely subjective review)

The only two main male characters in the film, Bob Weissman (Patrick Dempsey Outbreak) and President Woodrow Wilson (Bob Gunton Glory) are good in their relatively brief screen time. Dempsey as Alice Paul's love interest, shown only as an example of the choice and sacrifices made by the leader of the movement, not as a diversion from the real story. Bob Gunton is good, as usual, in his customary role as the man we love to hate-or at least dislike- as President Wilson.

Some might criticize the music and style of this film, modern, upbeat music and fast cuts set to a period piece. I was also surprised hen watching the movie, but it works, in my opinion. Now, I'm not advocating that all period pieces follow suit, I don't know that I want to hear JayZ or 50 Cent in the next movie I see about the Civil War, but it works here, as I think the youthful modern angle is key to this vision of the story. Remember, these young women were the militant, youthful, and modern thinking actors of one hundred years ago. I think showing it with similar music and style from our perspective in the 21st century helps us understand that.

Finally, no discussion of this film should be done without mention of the scene in which the last vote in the last state needed to ratify the amendment came down to one young politician (representing a largely anti-suffrage constituency) who changed his vote from anti-suffrage to pro because-and this is true-he received word from his mother to do so and he believed a good man always listens to his mother. Wonderful!!

And, again, done in such a way as to not make him the real hero.

Simply, an excellent film.