| A Dry White Season | |
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| Directed by | Euzhan Palcy |
| Produced by | Paula Weinstein Tim Hampton Mary Selway |
| Written by | Colin Welland Euzhan Palcy Robert Bolt (uncredited) André Brink (novel) |
| Starring | Donald Sutherland Janet Suzman Jürgen Prochnow Zakes Mokae with Susan Sarandon and Marlon Brando |
| Music by | Dave Grusin |
| Cinematography | Pierre-William Glenn Kelvin Pike |
| Editing by | Glenn Cunningham Sam O'Steen |
| Distributed by | MGM |
| Release date(s) | September 22, 1989 |
| Running time | 97 minutes |
| Language | English |
A Dry White Season is a film released in 1989 by Davros Films and Sundance Productions and distributed by MGM. It was directed by Euzhan Palcy and produced by Paula Weinstein, Mary Selway and Tim Hampton. The screenplay was by Colin Welland and Euzhan Palcy, based upon André Brink's novel of the same name. Robert Bolt also contributed uncredited revisions of the screenplay.[1]
The film, which was the first major Hollywood studio film with a black, female director, stars Donald Sutherland, Janet Suzman, Zakes Mokae, Jürgen Prochnow, Susan Sarandon and Marlon Brando (who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor). It is set in South Africa, and deals with the subject of apartheid.
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In A Dry White Season, Donald Sutherland portrays the character of Ben Du Toit, a South African school teacher. The story takes place in 1976, around the Soweto Riots, during the Apartheid system that lasted from 1948 until 1994.
The story begins when a gardener at Ben's school, a black man named Gordon, seeks his help while investigating the death of his son during the Riots. Like many South African whites, Ben refuses to get involved in the racial divides that have been tearing the country apart, thinking that Gordon's claims against the white minority government are unfounded. Things change when Ben sees firsthand the brutality by his own race against blacks, particularly when he sees the dead body of Gordon at the morgue not long after being tortured at the hands of the secret, corrupt government police. Gordon's wife, Emily, is also killed later, and also under suspicious circumstances.
Upset by this turn of events, Ben retains Ian Mackenzie (Marlon Brando), a human rights attorney, to assist him with the case. Ben's political awakening is so complete by this time that his crusade to bring those responsible for the deaths of Gordon and his family members eventually take their toll on his own family. Eventually, Ben Du Toit pays the ultimate price for standing up to a corrupt government for basic human rights and equality.
Before production, Warner Brothers passed on the project and it went to MGM.
Director Euzhan Palcy was so passionate about creating an accurate portrayal on film that she traveled to Soweto undercover, posing as a recording artist, to research the riots. Actor Brando was so moved by Palcy's commitment to social change that he came out of a self-imposed retirement to play the role of the human rights lawyer; he also agreed to work for union scale ($4,000), far below his usual fee. The salaries of Sutherland and Sarandon were also reduced and the film was budgeted at only $9 million.[2]
The film was shot at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, England and on location in Zimbabwe.
The film was released at a time when South Africa was undergoing great political upheaval and regular demonstrations.[3] The film itself was initially banned by South African censors, who said it could harm President F.W. de Klerk's attempts at apartheid reform. The ban was later lifted in September 1989 and the movie was screened at the Weekly Mail Film Festival in Johannesburg.[4]
Brando's performance in the movie earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and he received the Best Actor Award at the Tokyo Film Festival. For her outstanding cinematic achievement, Palcy received the "Orson Welles Award" in Los Angeles.
A Dry White Season earned $3.8 million in the United States,[5][6] against a budget of $9 million.
The film received mostly positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 91% of 11 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.4 out of 10.[7] Brando, in his first film since 1980,[3] was particularly praised for his small but key role as human rights attorney Ian Mackenzie.
Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert called A Dry White Season "an effective, emotional, angry, subtle movie."[3] The Washington Post's Rita Kempley wrote that "A Dry White Season is political cinema so deeply felt it attains a moral grace. A bitter medicine, a painful reminder, it grieves for South Africa as it recounts the atrocities of apartheid. Yes, it is a story already told on a grander scale, but never with such fervor."[8] And Rolling Stone's Peter Travers wrote that director Palcy, "a remarkable talent, has kept her undeniably powerful film ablaze with ferocity and feeling."[9]
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