I found this on YouTube recently, and it reminded me of the time many years ago when I saw this on television. I was a young man (25) at the time, and it just tore me up. I would like to think that I was already a non-racist, but I know that this movie grounded and solidified my opinions and feeling on the topic like nothing else ever has.
It sneaks up on you. Three people talking in room about ballroom dancing, geography, history, and kite flying. You don't see it coming, but it gradually becomes one of the most profound statements on how racism hurts everyone, including (and maybe especially) the racist himself.
Nothing before or since in my life has effected me in precisely the way this did, and does. The acting is superb, and the writing.... well, Atholl Fugard is a genius.
See this version. I assume the Ving Rhames film is also good, but it has a much larger cast and so I suspect they added a lot of new material to "open it up" as Hollywood likes to do. I'll see it, but you must see this version first. Also, Zakes Mokae won a Tony award for this portrayal of Sam, and it is so obvious as to why. His final soliloquy to Hally made me cry. Then, and now.
It sneaks up on you. Three people talking in room about ballroom dancing, geography, history, and kite flying. You don't see it coming, but it gradually becomes one of the most profound statements on how racism hurts everyone, including (and maybe especially) the racist himself.
Nothing before or since in my life has effected me in precisely the way this did, and does. The acting is superb, and the writing.... well, Atholl Fugard is a genius.
See this version. I assume the Ving Rhames film is also good, but it has a much larger cast and so I suspect they added a lot of new material to "open it up" as Hollywood likes to do. I'll see it, but you must see this version first. Also, Zakes Mokae won a Tony award for this portrayal of Sam, and it is so obvious as to why. His final soliloquy to Hally made me cry. Then, and now.