Endgame

Synopsis: A story based on the covert discussions that brought down the Apartheid regime in South Africa.
Genre: Drama, History
Director(s): Pete Travis
Production: Monterey Media
  Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 14 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.3
Metacritic:
55
Rotten Tomatoes:
71%
PG-13
Year:
2009
109 min
Website
863 Views


This is an illegal gathering.

You must disperse immediately.

Stay down.

Pass.

You're in Soweto.

Why?

My sister lives in District Three.

What's in the back?

Furniture.

Wait.

Okay, it's fine.

He was out collecting wood

with his father and his sister.

The Police came out of nowhere and

grabbed us and took us to the bridge.

They took my dad and tied him

in a canvas bag...

and dropped him into the river.

They made us watch him drown.

They told us to go home and tell

the others the price for being ANC.

We have a word...

'Ubuntu'.

It means a person's humanity...

is measured according to their

relationship with others.

We tell the children that these

people, who commit these crimes...

have lost their humanity...

and are as much victims

of Apartheid as we are.

Who the hell is he?

He's a friend I can vouch for him.

He's here to help.

He's from Consolidated Goldfields.

To talk about fund raising for our

schools programme.

We didn't ask for his hand-outs.

- Leave him be! Let him be!

- Michael Young.

Sir?

Go, go, go!

- It's Michael Young.

- What progress?

This isn't going to work for us.

We need to aim higher.

Safer to stay in the foothills.

The more visible, the more

vulnerable we are.

Yes, it's much safer.

Yes.

A bit of hush.

It is my pleasure to present

Thabo Mbeki.

The African National Congress'

Head of Information...

who is here representing

the ANC president, Oliver Tambo.

I know that you'll make Mr Mbeki

feel most welcome.

My name is Thabo Mbeki...

and I am a terrorist.

No doubt, that is what you

have been told.

No incendiary devices.

No concealed weapons.

I am just a man, as you are.

Every day the President

of South Africa...

under the mantle of his State

of Emergency...

deploys thousands more of

his troops in the townships...

brutally crushing the rising

resistance to his oppressive regime.

Yet, the UK, is still one of South

Africa's leading trading partners.

Every company...

every financial institution

which continues to invest there...

is a source of political and economic

strength to P.W. Botha.

If it is true that money talks,

then let it speak, clearly.

Let your voice join ours when we say

the bloodshed of our people must end.

The time to shout 'enough' has come.

The time for you to act is here.

Mr Mbeki?

Michael Young.

Public Affairs Director,

Consolidated Goldfields.

Tell me how we can help.

It's not an offer to make lightly,

Mr Young. We might take you up on it.

It wasn't made lightly.

As you say, we too have an incentive

to ensure your country's survival.

We have this recurring

nightmare, Mr Young...

that one day the South African

Government will send us a message...

indicating that it is ready to talk

to us about ending apartheid.

Because of our antagonism and

mistrust, we fail to hear the message.

We fail to respond.

We miss the moment.

Thank you.

An apparatchik working for

a reactionary outfit like Goldfields?

Is that what it's come to?

The fact that he works for Goldfields

means he'll be listened to.

You know a better entry card?

And if the Public Affairs

thing is just a front?

I doubt he's Ml6.

I need a word.

He's expecting you.

Come in.

I think I have a way forward

on our problem.

I'm listening.

Mr Vijoan?

It's Michael Young. I called last

week about the meetings...

I'm trying to set up between

the ANC and leading Afrikaners.

The risk is too great.

I have a young family to think of.

Please don't call me again.

They're just exploratory meetings...

and someone representing

the Dutch Reform Church...

who better to act as

a mediator between the two sides?

It's not the policy of our church

to involve ourselves in politics.

I can't help you. I am sorry.

There are those on both sides

who favour force over dialogue.

To maintain secrecy, it's best

if we hold the talks in the U.K.

In South Africa secrets are

a way of life.

They also have a habit

of exploding in your face.

I can't be bothered.

I'm sorry.

- Can I use your toilet?

- Yeah, it's around the back.

Love has a habit of pushing us

into the arms of philosophy.

An earthquake claims a thousand lives.

Families bludgeoned to death

by intruders.

The death of a much loved child.

Such events prompt us to ask

how a benign deity can allow...

such tragedies to happen.

The task of Philosophy is to rise above

the futility and chaos of daily life...

to seek a deeper truth

to our existence.

I'll finish with the words of Pascal.

'If man's dignity lies in thought...

then let us all strive to think well.'

Good day.

Be warned!

Those who have not yet handed in their

assignment on Freedom and the State...

will find their own freedom curtailed.

Mr Gruber, make my day.

Treat yourself to a new

typewriter ribbon.

Mr Young, I assume?

An audacious mission

you've undertaken.

A mission impossible,

might be more apt.

What you are asking is impossible.

No sane man would put his livelihood,

not to mention his life...

on the line

to break bread with the devil.

In this country, those who go public

against Apartheid...

acquire the status of a pariah.

Yet, you still agreed

to meet with me?

You say Consolidated Goldfields have

agreed to fund these meetings?

Your founder would turn in his grave.

Rhodes knew that market forces

can succeed where politicians fail.

You are being disingenuous.

This is about your company protecting

it's investments here, is it not?

They know apartheid is an anathema

morally and economically.

They've colluded with it long enough.

It's an open secret that a silent

coup has taken place in our country.

Botha no longer consults Parliament

or the cabinet...

but rules in the manner of

a medieval monarch.

Only his inner sanctum of

security advisors have his ear.

It's they who wield the power,

and they are not interested...

in a political solution.

Like most Afrikaners, I find...

the murderous methodology of

the ANC morally repugnant...

and the idea of cosying up to them

is abhorrent...

even the thought makes me retch.

I'm sorry that you

had a wasted journey.

I am not the man

for your mission.

Get on the move.

If you are not otherwise engaged,

Mr Mandela...

the Minister of Justice invites

you to join him for tea.

I'm told it's cucumber sandwiches

this time.

It seems you

have another visitor, too.

The Head of National Intelligence,

no less.

Doctor Barnard is here?

A moment if you please, Mr Brand.

Copy, control.

Thank you.

Control.

Confirm subject's arrival.

Mr Coatsee.

Good to see you again.

Good to see you too, Mr Mandela.

Doctor Neil Barnard is here,

Head of National Intelligence.

He's asked to sit in

on our discussions.

Mr Nelson Mandela.

Doctor Neil Barnard.

I've waited a long time

for this opportunity, Doctor.

Likewise, sir.

...used tear gas

to disperse the crowd...

in what a security forces

spokesperson described as...

'necessary measures

to contain the violence'.

And, there were further arrests when

Rate this script:4.3 / 3 votes

Robert Harvey

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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