La Réconciliation ?

Filmmaker Marion Stalens wonders how after a violent conflict, people can pick up where they left off and carry on living together. To find an answer to this question, she travels to South Africa, where her sister, the actress Juliette Binoche, is working on In my Country, a film by John Boorman about two journalists reporting on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings. In this film, too, the question is raised as to whether the deep wounds that Apartheid inflicted on South African society can be cured by reconciliation. Stalens summarises the history of the country by means of archival footage; she also includes scenes from the feature film and talks to crew members. She does not distinguish between rank and function; both director Boorman and a few extras are introduced. The conclusion is that Apartheid has not disappeared and that unemployment and AIDS are still major problems, especially for the black community. But there is hope, too. The documentary filmmaker discovers a notion from African tradition that may form a basis for true reconciliation: ubuntu, a vision on humaneness that is the opposite of the Western "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" kind of justice. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)