Synopsis
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
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Cast
- Donald SutherlandBen du Toit
- Janet SuzmanSusan du Toit
- Zakes MokaeStanley Makhaya
- Jürgen ProchnowCaptain Stolz
- Susan SarandonMelanie Bruwer
- Marlon BrandoIan McKenzie
- Winston NtshonaGordon Ngubene
- Thoko NtshingaEmily Ngubene
- Leonard MaguireBruwer
- Gerard ThoolenColonel Viljoen
Recommendations
- 100
Chicago Sun-Times
Donald Sutherland is perfectly cast and quietly effective as a man who will not be turned aside, who does not wish misfortune upon himself or his family, but cannot ignore what has happened to the family of his friend. - 90
Chicago Reader
First-rate agitprop about the ruthlessness of South African apartheid, directed by Euzhan Palcy (Sugar Cane Alley) and adapted from Andre Brink's novel by Palcy and Colin Welland. The relentless plot is effectively set up and expertly pursued, and Hugh Masekela makes some striking contributions to Dave Grusin's musical score. - 80
Washington Post
A Dry White Season is political cinema so deeply felt it attains a moral grace. A bitter medicine, a painful reminder, it grieves for South Africa as it recounts the atrocities of apartheid. Yes, it is a story already told on a grander scale, but never with such fervor. - 75
Chicago Tribune
A heavy, effective dramatization of the effects of the Soweto Uprising of 1976 on a white South African teacher (Donald Sutherland) whose black gardener is murdered by police. This film is unblinking in its depiction of the most violent side of apartheid. Marlon Brando lightens the drama with a colorful cameo as the lawyer hired by Sutherland to combat the state. - 75
Chicago Tribune
This is filmmaking meant to engage the heart-and other visceral organs-more than the mind; its effects are simple, broad and directly put. - 70
The New York Times
Dry White Season is no less predictable than its predecessors, but its frankness and sincerity matter more than its fundamental bluntness. - 60
Empire
A thumpingly didactic script, but Palcy has crafted a watchable - if not particularly important, given its competition - one. - 60
TV Guide Magazine
Palcy, in what amounts to the casting coup of the year, enlisted the reclusive Brando to make his brief but memorable cameo appearance--his first film role since 1980--for union scale. His performance alone is worth the price of admission to this earnest, somewhat predictable, but moving and significant film.
