Inside (1996) (TV)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Arthur Penn

Writer (WGA):

Bima Stagg (written by)

Release Date:

25 August 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A South Afrikaan political prisoner is tortured to obtain information on apartheid conspirators. Ten years later...

Plot Keywords:

Racism | Spit In The Face | Suicide | Torture | Treason

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Eric Stoltz	...	Marty Strydom
Nigel Hawthorne	...	Colonel Kruger
Louis Gossett Jr.	...	Questioner
Ian Roberts	...	Moolman
Janine Eser	...	Christie
Louis Van Niekerk	...	Strydom
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gary Coppin	...	Big Policeman
Desmond Dube	...	Scrabenga
Mandy Gulwa	...	Mrwaki's Wife
Joshua Lindberg	...	Guard Koos
Moscow Luka	...	Prisoner Voice
Sipho Mabaso	...	Sax Player
Mzwakhe Mathenjwa	...	Prisoner Voice #3
Nelson Mathipa	...	Jemba Marimba Band
Mandla Mdletshe	...	Prisoner Voice #4
Maxwell Mililo	...	Prisoner Voice #2
Ntokozo Mkhalpeh	...	Jemba Marimba Band
Hezekiel Mngomezyly	...	Prisoner Voice
Jerry Mofokeng	...	Mrwaki
Carlson Mokoena	...	Prisoner Voice
Fana Mokoena	...	Prisoner Voice #1
Mpho Moponya	...	Jemba Marimba Band
Ben Mpofu	...	Jemba Marimba Band
Tshepo L. Nake	...	Prisoner Voice #5
Themba Ndaba	...	Bakwana / Prisoner Voice #6
Seldom Ngwenia	...	Guard 1996
Nandi Nyembe	...	Prisoner Voice
Sizwe Nyembe	...	12 Year Old Prisoner
Ross Preller	...	Guard Pregieter
Patrick Shai	...	Bhambo
Duma Tsepane	...	1st Prisoner
Dimpie Tshabalala	...	Keyboard Player
Toto Tshimankinda	...	Big Guard

MPAA:

Rated R for political violence and torture, language and a brief sex scene.

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

German | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Norway:18 | UK:18 (video premiere) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

Company:

Film Afrika Worldwide

Quotes:

Colonel Kruger: Apartheid was not about race. It was about culture. The Stone Age can't coexist with the Twentieth Century.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in In the Shadow of Hollywood (2000)

How to deal with anti-apartheid terrorist 101

Let's get this straight from the outset: Inside is set in South Africa during the death throes of apartheid, but it is not specifically an apartheid film - rather, it is a film about incarceration, interrogation, psychological manipulation, torture and hatred. The prison cell and warden's office in this film could be transplanted into any one of a hundred historical or modern scenarios where powerful regimes seek to extract information from terrorists/freedom fighters (circle whichever is appropriate) by constant and brutal degradation. There's an added element here too: Kruger (Hawthorne) not only is a vicious racist, he also has a pathological, jealous hatred of Strydom (Stoltz), the educated, upper-class Afrikaaner boy who, to him, was born with it all and has rebuffed it in the name of 'guilty liberalism'. Consequently the boundaries of the Geneva Convention aren't just pushed or broken, they're completely shattered, and it makes for entrancing if disturbing on-screen viewing.

It's very much a character-driven film and the three lead roles - Stoltz, Hawthorne and Gossett - all seem to relish the leeway and personal interpretation each role offers them. Hawthorne, a skilled actor, probably does best as Kruger, whose evil is more that of the Himmleresque bureaucrat than that of the ranting sadist. He also masters the difficult Afrikaaner accent too, something which Stoltz does competently but not quite as well. The limited sets and thematic scope of the film really thrust the characters onto a very finite centre stage and all seem to thrive: the scenes between Gossett and Hawthorne are tense and electric, while Stoltz's gradual capitulation to the psychological brutality of his captors is both intriguing and saddening.

Inside is neither a true story nor one that attempts to address the broader issues of apartheid - and nor should it, for this is far too large a task for one film to do adequately. It's both a slice of time and a metaphor for a nation coming to terms with the thuggery and murderous hatred visited on some people by others, in the name of a shambolic political system but fundamentally driven by personal defects. Watch other films if you want to learn about apartheid, but watch Inside if you want to see a very good movie.