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Windprints (1989)

Director: David Wicht

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Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Wicht, a white South African, here tells a factually-based story of the hunting down of Nhadiep (Fong), a mute Namibian outlaw and killer legendary for his elusiveness. It's set in pre- independence Namibia in 1982, SWAPO is engaged in bloody war against South Africa, and there's increasing local unrest between Afrikaaner farmers and native Nama workers. Liberal Johannesburg cameraman Anton van Heerden (Bean) is despatched to work on Nhadiep's story with an out-of-touch English journo (Hurt) given to hanging out with 'colonial relics'. Why has Nhadiep killed only members of his own people? Is he in the pay of racist Afrikaaner Henning (Weyers), who is cynically buying up abandoned farmsteads? Wicht's use of van Heerden to examine contradictions within the white liberal consciousness (including his own?) - the cameraman's objectivity as reporter of events, his status as an Afrikaaner, the significance of his personal involvement in tracking the killer - is, despite its conventionality, brave and honest if not entirely successful. Despite the usual adumbration of roles for blacks, Wicht has the guts to admit the complexity of varying points of view without resorting to simplistic messages.

Author: WH 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

  • Edward C Green said...
    Posted on Feb 14 2008 20:23 I just saw this on TV and it is refreshing to see a film without all the usual clichés of American films. It is a complex story with lots of ethnographic touches. I have spent years in Swaziland and South Africa and this film comes across as historically and sociologically accurate and authentic, and the scenery made me nostalgic. I recommend this to adults who know something about southern Africa--or would like to.
    6 stars rating
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Cast & crew

Director: David Wicht

Producer: Michael L Games, Raymond Day

Cast: John Hurt, Sean Bean, Lesley Fong, Marius Weyers full cast

Duration: 100 mins


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