Flak Magazine: Review of Long Night's..., 03-22-00

While Sundance certainly has its flaws, it still does showcase a few good movies. With "Long Night's Journey Into Day," a documentary about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, Sundance shows why it's considered the world's top independent festival.

This is easily the best of the festival and the deserved winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary. As apartheid ended, South Africa faced thousands of dark questions about its past, with murky answers for its future. The whites who ruled for so long wanted amnesty for their crimes as their victims violently reacted to their freedom from oppression.

Instead of punishing the violence of the past with more violence, Bishop Desmond Tutu convened the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

If someone came before the panel and admitted to committing an act of violence, completely and truthfully, the TRC would then decide whether to grant them amnesty and clemency for the crime, with victims' families either supporting or refusing the perpetrator's request.

Detailing four stories in this complex, painful history, directors Deborah Hoffman and Frances Reid show, quite literally how South Africa's problems are not simply black and white. The filmmakers exclude no one from their cameras — victims' families and those seeking amnesty discuss their roles in the process, and TRC members give their viewpoints on the process of healing.

Coupled with emotional trial scenes and footage from the incidents themselves, "Long Night's Journey Into Day" provides an objective view to an emotionally wracked subject.

Viewers will question their own attitudes toward race relations as they watch the four stories unfold: two young black men who killed American student Amy Biel argue for their innocence in the matter; the mothers of four insurgents confront the black man who orchestrated their sons' massacre for the white government; the sympathetic, white special forces agent begs for clemency in front of the women he widowed; and a former member of the African National Congress' military wing defends his bombing of white civilians.

Crimes, such as Biel's death, that once seemed brutal become less lurid and more complex, thanks to this documentary's thoughtful, sensitive examination.

Hoffman and Reid have worked together previously, but never as directors. Still, their longtime collaboration ("The Times of Harvey Milk," "Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter") is evident in the film's fluidity.

While "Long Night's Journey Into Day" is not a slick, glossy production, it is professional without feeling detached, sympathetic without being one-sided.

The objectivity, while somewhat surprising, in many ways refreshes. As an American, it's easy to look at apartheid and immediately assign blame. But as "Long Night's Journey Into Day" shows its audience, it isn't that simple. The people of South Africa are filled with ambiguity and pain for the parts they all played in the apartheid struggle, despite their race.

As so many areas — from the Balkans to Palestine and Chile — examine their roles in state-sponsored violence and oppression, South Africa shows itself to be a model in redemption, taking the adage "The truth shall set you free" as policy. It's also an inclusive movie — the viewer need not have a deep knowledge of apartheid or the TRC to appreciate it. In many ways, it serves as a history lesson, teaching tolerance and understanding through a past filled with bitter hatred and societal anguish.

Painful, emotionally wracking yet laced with hope, "Long Night's Journey Into Day" is an elegant reminder of how far — and how little — we have journeyed as human beings.

"Long Night's Journey Into Day" has been picked up by HBO. If you don't get it, find a friend who does. Few films can inspire and educate such as this.

— Stephanie Kuenn (smkuenn at gmail dot com)