The year is 1981. South Africa is in turmoil-Apartheid is ripping the country apart. Young men, straight out of school, are being drafted into the army, taught to kill and sent to the border to repel the invaders.
PAUL is one such boy. The only child of a farming couple, he returns to the farm for the Christmas holidays after enlisting to the army from boarding school. So this is no ordinary holiday-he will be reporting for national service at the beginning of the new year, so he intends to make every day count. That is where Anne Marie came in and they fall in love, Madly.
Soon, the holiday is over and Paul reports to his unit with promise that he will be back soon. And indeed he does in a wheelchair and he is confined to bed for the rest of his life.
This rips apart his parents and ANNE MARIE, who cannot bear to see her golden boy in such a pathetic state.
It affects his mother, ALETTA, most of all. She is the one who spends all the hours with him, caring for him, feeding him, reading to him….She starts to question everything. Why this war? Why are young men being sent to slaughter? Why the laws of this country that create this terrible situation?
The harrowing conclusion is when PAUL asks his father, JOHANNES, to kill him. He does not want to live anymore. Not like this. Not for the rest of his days…
Click here to see the trailer!
Director: Darrell Roodt
Starring: Deanre Reiners, Elzette Maarschalk, Chris de Clerq, Candice Weber
Year: 2014
Country: South Africa
Running Time: 88 min.
Genre: Drama
