A Dry White Season: Confronting Apartheid’s Brutality
Explore A Dry White Season, a powerful 1989 film starring Marlon Brando & Donald Sutherland, exposing the harsh realities of apartheid in South Africa.
Ben du Toit (Donald Sutherland), a South African teacher, lives with his family seemingly detached from the struggles in his home country, even while surrounded by Black men and women who serve as his employees. Upon hearing of conflicts, he always defaults to the same excuses his white compatriots use: if a Black person was arrested, they deserved it.
Ben begins to awaken to this issue when one of his employees, the quiet gardener Gordon (Winston Ntshona), has his son arrested and humiliated. Still skeptical, Ben only becomes convinced that something truly terrible is happening in Soweto when a major uprising begins, and numerous children and teenagers are arrested and killed. When his own family starts to distance themselves from him, Ben realizes that racism affects everyone’s lives, including his own.
Despite the immense difficulties, he sets out with the help of Gordon (Zakes Mokae) to find a solution. He decides to seek out the renowned lawyer McKenzie (Marlon Brando), who warns him that while he will try to help, this is a battle already lost.
Apartheid was, and remains, one of the most unjust systems the world has ever witnessed. For centuries, thousands of people were segregated because of their skin color. In South Africa, Black people were relegated to townships since the colonial period. Many were denied access to quality education and, consequently, to jobs that would provide better living conditions. These opportunities were exclusively reserved for the tiny fraction of white people who held power, attended better schools, and secured positions guaranteeing higher standards of living. I wish I were talking about something fictional, but if A Dry White Season is a difficult film to watch and write about, it’s because it hurts to know that reality is far worse.
The fight against apartheid only ended in 1994. Today, we know that the struggle continues, and the strong ties of discrimination will take a long time to heal. But at the time it was directed by Euzhan Palcy in 1989, the system was still in vogue. Euzhan Palcy was the first Black female director hired by a major studio like MGM, which is highly significant.
Tackling a powerful theme like the fight against racial segregation, the film featured first-rate actors such as Marlon Brando, Donald Sutherland, Zakes Mokae, and Susan Sarandon. Brando, known for both his extremely problematic life and his humanitarian efforts, donated his salary to the anti-apartheid struggle, followed by his castmates, according to IMDb.
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