In My Country

The real life injustices and horrors of South Africa under apartheid are given a sanitised sheen in director John Boorman's well-intentioned though contrived historical drama. Made the same year as the superior and similarly themed Red Dust, the film takes a fictional look at the 1990s Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings that granted amnesty to human rights abusers who publicly admitted their guilt. Seen through the eyes of two journalists - Juliette Binoche's stunned Afrikaner and Samuel L Jackson's idealistic American - events have an unrealistic, made-for-television feel that barely captures the deep significance and emotional intensity of these legal sessions. It's only the victims' shocking testimonies that add power and pathos to the pedestrian narrative, but they're sadly overshadowed by a clunky and clichéd romance between the two struggling leads.