The French
release of “The Forgiven” takes place early January 2019, but a select number of
moviegoers got to see the film Dec. 15 when American actor Forest Whitaker
hosted a pre-screening in Paris alongside director Roland Joffé.
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Forest Whitaker at the pre-screening of "The Forgiven".
(Photo courtesy of UNESCO)
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Based on the
play "The Archbishop and the Antichrist" by Michael Ashton, “The
Forgiven” tells a story that involves Archbishop Desmond Tutu's search for answers
during South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The drama pits Tutu against
the fictional character Piet Blomfeld - a convicted murderer, who is a composite
of various racist personalities - played by the Australian actor Eric Bana.
While many
critics have hailed the subject matter, noting that Tutu’s historical role is a
worthy topic, most panned the heavy-handed treatment by English-French director
Joffé when the film was released in the United States and the UK last March.
Variety magazine reviewer Guy Lodge, for instance, wrote that the movie was
“drab” and “vigourless”, and a far cry from Joffé’s award-winning work on “The
Killing Fields” and “The Mission”.
“The Forgiven” (or just "Forgiven" for the French market) might, however, strike a stronger chord with French viewers, where the questions of égalité and liberté spark philosophical discourse, even amidst hypocrisy in national dealings with oppressive regimes.
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| The French-language poster for the film. |
Whitaker plays
Tutu, who is running the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the end of apartheid and who visits Cape Town's Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison to meet
Blomfeld, a former officer of the South African Defence Force and member of a
neo-Nazi organization, to assess his candidacy for amnesty.
Blomfeld is a
potential witness to murders committed under apartheid, including the
disappearance of the teenage daughter of Mrs. Morobe (played with poignant
depth by Thandi Makhubele), who implores the archbishop to find answers regarding her missing child.
The movie
comprises other sub-plots, but the main action consists of the tense
confrontations and psychological games between Tutu and Blomfeld, which, if
nothing else, may spur viewers to do research on the apartheid era (and its
legacy). If that happens, the film will have served a purpose, whatever one
thinks of the overall production.
The Paris
pre-screening took place at the headquarters of the United Nations' cultural
agency, UNESCO, during the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UDHR was proclaimed by the UN
General Assembly in Paris on Dec. 10, 1948.
“It is always
inspiring to see people coming together to watch a movie about justice,” said
Whitaker, who is UNESCO’s Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation.
Distribution (France): SAJE Distribution.
