mcnulty Review of Final Solution

Final Solution (2001)

A moving story of racial reconciliation during the waning days of apartheid in South Africa.

[8 February 2003]

***SLIGHT SPOILERS*** This film, shot in South Africa, is a powerful true story of how the life of a white Afrikaaner, well on his way to becoming a paramilitary assassin, was turned around by a woman and two books. Gerrit is the grandson of a Boer shot by the British at the beginning of the 20th century for his guerilla warfare against British rule in South Africa. The boy grows up nurtured by tales of his grandfather's martyrdom, the racist teachings of family and church, and his admiration for Hitler's MEIN KAMPF. He shares with a politician and a rogue police officer his own version of the Final Solution that will rid S.A. of all blacks and Jews. Then at college he meets Celeste, who challenges him to read the book her literature class is studying, Alan Paton's CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY. Gerrit rejects the notion, calling it "Commie rubbish." She gives it to him anyway, and then tricks him into accompanying herself and a friend on a visit to a black church whose pastor is dedicated to racial reconciliation. Gerrit refuses to shake hands with the pastor, but the latter unsettles him--first by refusing to be put off by Gerrit's insulting manner, and then by quoting a line from the Bible, "God has made of one blood all nations." When Gerrit parrots what he's been taught, that the Bible says that blacks have no souls, and thus could not go to heaven, the pastor challenges him to show him the passage. He can't, of course, and this leads the boy to the college library where even with a concordance, he cannot find the passage. This, and many other incidents, is all told in flashbacks by an older Gerrit and his wife. They are at a church meeting when a white terrorist rushes into the church just ahead of a vigilante group of blacks out to kill him. Still with burnt cork on his face, the white is the lone survivor of a band of terrorists who had roared through the black township spraying bullets into the bodies of people standing and sitting outside their shacks. The white extremists had not realized that a group of black guerilla fighters were on hand, the latter grabbing their guns and blasting the car so that only two attackers survived--one whom the mob seized and set afire with a tire pinning down his arms, and the other, who has fled to the church. The pastor refuses to turn over the terrorist, but does agree to allow the angry mob to enter the church, if they will leave their weapons outside. It is then that the pastor asks Gerrit to tell his story so that the mob will see that not all whites are hopelessly evil, but can change. There are surprises ahead in the story, and Gerrit does not get to finish his story, so filled with hostility are his skeptical listeners. I loved the way that the script worked in one of my favorite novels, and how it shows that the Bible can be twisted and also used to get at truth. The characters are not card-board cutouts, but fallible human beings seeking justice and vengeance--and eventually, reconciliation. The film is being shown on various PBS station during February, and then possibly will be released to theaters. It's not to be missed. I often include in my VISUAL PARABLES magazine a film discussion guide, so I can hardly wait for this one to be released on video.