Nail-biting ride to the brink of revolution

First contact between political foes retold as a thriller

Endgame

• Director: Pete Travis
• Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, William Hurt, Mark Strong, John Kani
• Running time: 109 minutes
• Age restriction: PG13

If ever there was a must-see movie about our political history, it is Endgame, a superbly paced, impeccably acted and meticulously researched account of the secret talks that took place between key figures in the ANC leadership and delegates from the National Party in England.

PW Botha was still state president at the time, and he was fully aware of these talks, but he feared that the white South African negotiators would not follow his hardline orders. He was doing everything he could to retain his hold on power and he feared what was happening in the talks held in a secluded old country mansion, Mell's Park, in Somerset. His suspicions were not far off the mark.

The lead negotiator was Professor Willie Esterhuyse (William Hurt) an Afrikaner who believed that if no one shifted their position, conflict would erupt and South Africa would go the way of the Congo and other African states.

The other major figure was Thabo Mbeki (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who had long been in exile in the UK. He was getting his information from Lusaka and he did not know through his own experience what the situation was on the ground.

How volatile was it? If an outright revolution began, would the ANC cadres be able to defeat the well-armed South African Defence Force? And even if the ANC won, would they not be left with a ravaged nation?

Esterhuyse was having similar anxieties about the future. In Somerset, the opponents sized each other up. The third crucial player was Michael Young (Jonny Lee Miller), a representative of Gold Fields, a British mining company with major interests in South Africa.

Young took a pragmatic view of the matter. He saw that true victory in South Africa could only be won by transforming the political and corporate landscape, creating a black middle class and a black business community that would have commercial and political power.

Surrounding those three central figures are fascinating characters in smaller roles: John Kani as Oliver Tambo, Mark Strong as Dr Neal Barnard and Clarke Peters, who does a pitch-perfect portrayal of Nelson Mandela.

Director Pete Travis does a bold and conscientious job with this film. He did extensive research and worked with script writer Paula Milne, who travelled to South Africa and over a period of months interviewed almost all of the people who had been involved in the process.

US actor Hurt went to extraordinary pains to get the right accent for English spoken by an Afrikaner. Ejiofor was aware that Mbeki had spent years in exile and his accent was much more English than it was South African.

It's that level of detail that gives the film authenticity, but the smartest moves that Travis made were to condense the time line and construct the film as a political thriller.

In reality, the talks were held over several months, during which participants held intense meetings before going back to consult with others and then returning to Mell's Park to hear if any changes had occurred.

It was a protracted process, but Travis and Milne condensed the story down to what feels like a taut consequential melodrama.

There's a marvellous scene when Young comes to Johannesburg to meet ANC representatives and there's a nail-biting car ride in which Young does not know who is following whom, or who is friend or foe. That sets up a line of suspense and, by keeping the pace taut with claustrophobic close-ups, Travers pulls the audience into the political process that created the modern South Africa. It's a great piece of filmmaking.

I know, I sound like a broken record when I say this - again! - but I wonder why this film was not made by a South African. There are lots of South Africans in the film, and they used South African technicians and crews. One can only wonder why a book about these secret talks, The Fall of Apartheid by Robert Harvey, published in 2001, did not catch the eye of a local screenwriter or director.

It happens all the time. Skin was a uniquely South African story, as was Invictus, and now Endgame.

But what are the South African-made movies currently on view? Schuks Tshabalala's Survival Guide to South Africa and Egoli, which is enough to make you weep.