Endgame (2009)

• Year: 2009
• Released: 11 Jun 2010
• Country: United Kingdom, South Africa
• Adwords: Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy. 15 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1217616/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/endgame
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/endgame
• Available in: 720p,
• Language: English, Afrikaans, Xhosa
• MPA Rating: PG-13
• Genre: Drama, History
• Runtime: 109 min
• Writer: Robert Harvey, Paula Milne
• Director: Pete Travis
• Cast: William Hurt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jonny Lee Miller
• Keywords: bomb, england, south africa, political negotiations, apartheid, nelson mandela,

	6.2/10
	55/100
	67% – Critics
	67% – Audience

Endgame Storyline

Vantage Point director Pete Travis turns his attention from high-profile political assassinations to the high-risk talks that ushered in the end of apartheid while securing the release of Nelson Mandela in this historical drama Read More…starring William Hurt, Chiwetel Ejiofer, Mark Strong, and Johnny Lee Miller. The time is the late 1980s, a crucial period in the history of South Africa. President P.W. Botha is hanging onto power by a thread as the African National Congress (ANC) takes up arms against apartheid and the country tumbles towards insurrection. A British mining concern called Consolidated Gold is convinced that their interests would be better served in a stable South Africa, and quietly dispatches Michael Young, their head of public affairs, to open an unofficial dialogue between the bitter rivals. Assembling a reluctant yet brilliant team to pave the way to reconciliation by confronting obstacles that initially seem insurmountable, Young places his trust in ANC leader Thabo Mbeki and Afrikaner philosophy professor Willie Esterhuyse. It is their empathy that will ultimately serve as the catalyst for change by proving more powerful than the terrorist bombs that threaten to disrupt the peaceful dialogue. As the story shifts between Mandela’s jail cell, Botha’s chambers, ANC headquarters, and a rented car occupied by a British bureaucrat, the prospect for peace becomes more than just a distant hope.

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Endgame Movie Reviews

A hidden revolution

The end of the hated Apartheid regime in South Africa is an uplifting story, but also, as told in this drama-documentary, an oddly undramatic one. There was no revolution, nor even a commitment to reform from within. Instead, as the system became increasingly untenable on the ground in the face of growing popular unrest, a series of unofficial negotiations between prominent Afrakaaners and the opposition were eventually endorsed by F.W. de Klerk shortly after his appointment as leader of the country, in a tacit acknowledgement that he had run out of other options. Undramatic maybe, but this is still a worthy retelling of the mechanics of the process. It’s surprising to see Thabo Mbeki, later much criticised as a later south African leader when he denied that H.I.V. causes A.I.D.S., portrayed here in such a positive light. William Hurt is completely convincing as an Afrikaaner, while ‘Wire’ veteran Clarke Peters captures the essence of Nelson Mandela with a delicate performance . There’s an element of hagiography in the film’s treatment of the men who negotiated, but it is justifiably an uplifting story, especially in the knowledge of how, in the main, Mandela has managed to justify his status as virtual deity since his release; and how, for all its continuing problems, South African society has not collapsed with democracy.

ENDGAME: ‘the final stages of an extended process of negotiation’

ENDGAME, as written by Paula Milne and directed by Pete Travis, is a thinking person’s film. The subject is the ongoing crises of the Apartheid in South Africa (here during the years 1985 – 1990, with after film commentary to 1999) and the extended secret meetings between the Apartheid regime as controlled by President Botha (Timothy West), those meetings held between the African National Congress represented by Thabo Mbeki (Chiwetel Ejiofor) with prisoner Nelson Mandela (Clarke Peters) as the heart of the blacks and the increasingly disillusioned Afrikaner Apartheidists lead by Professor Will Esterhuyse (William Hurt) convened by a British representative Michael Young (Jonny Lee Miller) acting as spokesman for his entrepreneurial boss Rudolf Agnew (Derek Jacobi) of a major British industry vested in South Africa. The talks are wired by Botha’s intelligence officer Dr. Niel Barnard (Mark Strong) and level of intrigue is high. The message of the film is the struggle and final victory of democracy and the end of Apartheid in South Africa, and while the cerebral discussions by this fine group of actors is illuminating, the film gains its power from fast shots of the conditions in South Africa at the time, including rioting, terrorist acts, loss of families, and the ever present intrigue and danger surrounding those men attending the secret meetings.

The supporting cast (especially John Kani as Oliver Tambo, the venerated life long friend of Mandela) is exceptionally strong, but in the end it is the unexpected fine acting of William Hurt and the always excellent Chiwetel Ejifor who remind us how small scaled dramas can have far more impact than the big epics we are used to enduring. This film is especially excellent for informing the public about the ins and outs and meanings of the South African Apartheid and why the ending of that evil regime lighted the fuse for so many other important sociologic changes.

Grady Harp

Excellent political drama on how to get to peace

Shot in a manner very resonant of Frost/Nixon with outstanding editing Endgame is a fittingly unsentimental and very nicely played drama of the last days and brinkmanship of the apartheid negotiations in South Africa.

With competent performances from all involved this is not overacted but rather relies on the relationships and the materials. Cutting between South Africa and the UK it tells the story of the two sides: the Afrikaans government on the one, and the ANC and Pan-African parties on the other. How they came to find a path in what was probably the most volatile of all post-colonial politics to not lead to civil war is the story. Through the efforts of an Afrikaans philosophy professor (William Hurt) and a British troubleshooter for the gold mines (Johnny Lee Miller, who is in excellent form, less manic suits him very well indeed) the players first arrange to meet, meet, and work through the issues. Filmed in South Africa (A lot of outdoor shots) and the UK, this has more story than you’d think on first sight. It has some action scenes, but in the main it is a nicely poised political drama.

The film scores points for exceptional use of camera and again I have to mention the editing which is outstanding: rarely missing a beat and playing its focus on both the players and the reactions this is a first-class lesson is how film editing can make the story better and worth watching on that basis alone if film-making is your thing.

For those of us who remember the marches, the cause, and Mandela walking through the prison gates with Winnie, this films not only gives meat to the bones of the background to that history; it is evocative without being sentimental.

This is a film that needed to be made; and I for one wish that we could see more of this ilk – it is a strong reminder of the best that humans are capable of.