DVD | Red Dust

Rating: M - Contains Violence and Offensive Language.
Duration: 100 mins
Genre : Political Drama
Actors: Hilary Swank, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Release Date: Available now.

Red Dust is brutal and graphic as well as stunningly beautiful. Set against the scorching background of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation hearings, in a country struggling to come to terms with it’s past, it is a film that will open your eyes to a world that, whilst being a far cry form our own, has some very identifiable similarities.

To call this movie entertaining would give the wrong impression. Sure it will have you on the edge of your seats, eager to know what is going to happen next, but your standard Hollywood fare this is not. It’s not action packed but it is explosive. It shows the underlying tension that still exists in a post apartheid South Africa, whilst showing a different form of justice than what we are used too. It shows a country on the verge of the precipice, with only a few people willing to help it back away from the edge.

The tension of the movie in subtly cranked up through out the movie as we uncover little by little the truth behind the events unfolding in front of us, and there I little time to sit back and relax.

The production and cinematography are flawless, showing the beauty of the country juxtaposed with the brutality of the crimes. Chiwetel Ejiofor shines as a successful, yet broken mad, struggling to come to terms with his past, and Hilary Swank serves as a supporting (lead) role that tries to see both sides, but ends up realising she has her own past to deal with.

The message of this film is simple, and is stated in the tag line: Let the truth set you free. It looks at justice and forgiveness in the most basic, yet real ways. Dealing with the past atrocities of apartheid, but showing that there is only one way forward.

Food for thought
What is justice? This is a movie that will make you examine how you perceive justice.
What does forgiveness really achieve?