A REASONABLE MAN A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ***
In writer/director Gavin Hood's A REASONABLE MAN, Sean and Jennifer Raine (Gavin Hood and Janine Eser) are literally two happy campers, as they lounge in their sleeping bags by a river in a beautiful South African national park in rural Zululand. Sean is a corporate lawyer, and Jennifer is a professional photographer. In a comical incident involving cattle, they meet Sipho (Loyiso Gxwala), a friendly 18-year-old herd boy.
This serenity is broken later that day when they come upon a tragic village scene. Sipho is seen holding a bloody hatchet. Behind him is a mother screaming for her dead baby, whose head has been split open. Jennifer instinctively takes pictures of the incident, which gets them involved in the case. Sensing the boy's innocence, Sean will soon come to his aid even if his case looks unwinnable from the get-go.
The prosecutor (Vusi Kunene) charges Sipho with murder for the purpose of selling the child's body parts, a common practice in that area. Sean, rejecting an obvious, but inaccurate, insanity plea, argues that Sipho thought he was killing an evil spirit. Conceding that his client killed the child, Sean seems to be adopting a hopeless strategy. The beauty of the script, which mixes in large doses of witchdoctors and rural superstitions, is that it is always genuine and plausible. The audience is never asked to suspend disbelief.
Sean, we learn in a key subplot, has his own demons that need exorcism. The writer ties this into the main story thread without its seeming awkward or contrived.
Much of the movie happens during the trial, which is presided over by Nigel Hawthorne, as the meticulous Judge Wendon. Judge Wendon demands a certain decorum for his courtroom. Any emotional outbursts require a personal apology, or he throws the lawyer involved off the case. A no-nonsense judge, he doesn't like attorneys who object too often, especially when he considers their objections frivolous.
As the story evolves, Sipho becomes more and more frightened. Rather than making some big revelation towards the end, he stays clammed up. The moving film, with its superb acting, doesn't pull a fast one on us in the end. Just when you are worried that the writer will do something that you'll regret, he doesn't. The story ends satisfyingly with the same grace and logic with which it began.
A REASONABLE MAN runs 1:43. It is not yet rated but will probably be PG-13 or R for some violent images. The film would be fine for teenagers.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
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