End Game 020910

In 1985, South Africa was the most racially split country outside of the Middle East. Both Africans and Afrikaans (descendents of British settlers) lived in fear and distrust of each other and the government’s Apartheid policy didn’t help. Both sides know the policy is the problem but both sides are scared of what will happen if it’s abolished. Enter Michael Young; a British man who does something for a company that has some kind of monetary interest in what happens in South Africa. He longs for the fighting and the terrorism to end. He hatches a plan; get together regular people on both sides who, while involved in politics, are not politicians to talk to each other about the situation in an attempt to get both sides to understand the other. William Hurt comes in as a professor known for some kind of political viewpoint who, during the course of the talks, becomes friends with Chiwetel Ejiofor (the assassin in Serenity) a man who does something for South Africa’s black political movement. The film lets us in on these secret negotiations as well as shows the political turmoil exploding outside of them.

The history lover in me found this movie fascinating. It lets you see the negotiations that had to happen before negotiations could actually happen. It also tells the world know about the unsung hero of Michael Young a man who put everything together, working as the silent author of the end of one the 20^th century’s most infamous political policies. The friendship based on respect between the scholar and the idealist was really engaging to watch as well. The movie’s music theme was also really cool.

As interesting as the history was, the film had two major flaws, the first being a lack of clarity. In the description I was very vague on the details. This is because, so is End Game. I have a very basic understanding of apartheid due to only being six when it ended and I just discovered that right before the credits. I know what was happening but that’s about it. Thanks to this movie, I know about the background stuff, but not the larger picture. That is what it set out to show but anyone not familiar with the actual history will be completely lost. There’s a side story involving political prisoner Nelson Mandela but I only know who he is because of the trailers for Clint Eastwood’s Invictus. This movie did not aid in my knowledge whatsoever. The filmmakers seem to have set out to make a movie strictly for people interested in South Africa’s history and alienates the ignorant newcomers like me.

The second big problem is this is an independent film that is obsessed with its independency. The entire movie seems to be screaming “Look at me. I was filmed on a low budget and I’m deliberately breaking free from the chains of free thinking squelching conventional film rules and tossing aside unnecessary expensive equipment that gets rid of the rawness of film.” Equipment such as the exposure, which causes all of the scenes to appear washed out and grainy or black and grainy. Other equipment not used: tripods and boom mics. I appreciate the steady cam. And I appreciate unconventional filming techniques. But they’re only good if they serve a purpose. This one the purpose of the camera constantly following the actors and being behind objects like bushes, corners, and cars was probably to help give the sense that they were being watched but making the viewer the one watching them only alienates them from the characters on screen. Some films become so much about special effects that they forget what makes a good film is character. This one is so much about lack of effects that it’s forgotten about character. Most of the cuts are jarring and remind you of something you’d see on a home movie which actually helps remind you that you’re only watching a movie; something no director wants.

C-. This movie is great if you’re a teacher and you just covered apartheid in your class, but it’s certainly not an introduction. Rather than bare bones, this film is bare muscle. It’s excess stuff that surrounds the skeleton, so it just sits there, limply on the ground.