Release Date:
Friday, March 11, 2005
A political and romantic drama set amid the post-Apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Trials in South Africa, In My Country stars Samuel L. Jackson and Juliette Binoche as two reporters seeking the truth. (Our job demands that we go on, but we understand if you don't
) According to the African principle of ubuntu, the trials were established as a means of healing by inviting perpetrators of murder and torture on both sides to confront their victims and demonstrate contrition for their actions in exchange for amnesty. This is an understandably difficult concept for skeptical Washington Post reporter Langston Whitfied (Jackson) to embrace. Though it's a pleasantly subdued, "Motherfucker!"-free departure for Jackson, the script lacks the emotional depth needed to make it outstanding. Furthermore, Whitfield's romance with Afrikaans poet Anna Malan (Binoche) feels tacked on, unlikely, and misplaced against a backdrop of racial, nationalistic, and judicial strife. Unlike Hotel Rwanda, which brought humanity to a tragically ignored international atrocity, In My Country just feels like cheap box office bait.