Michael Ashton is a playwright and screenwriter from Dundee, Scotland. Before he became a writer, he served in the British Army, studied law, and became a legal counselor specializing in human rights. As with every human being on this earth, Ashton fell into hard times. In 2008, after battling drug and alcohol addiction, Ashton was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
There, Ashton took a screenwriting course in prison, committed to changing his life for the better. He has since written over 30 plays, including the award-winning The Archbishop and the Antichrist. That play was adapted into a screenplay, The Forgiven, which was made into his first feature film and co-written with director Roland Joffé.
The film tells the story about post-Apartheid South Africa and Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s (Forest Whitaker in a powerhouse performance) quest for reconciliation as chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The Antichrist in this story refers to Piet Blomfeld (Eric Bana in an astonishing turn), a notorious Apartheid-era torturer, murderer, and leader of a hit squad, holding the backwards ideals of white supremacy. Tutu is drawn to the harsh surroundings inside the prison walls as Blomfeld seeks clemency for his crimes.
The Forgiven is a timely and powerful film, and the ultimate testament to the power of forgiveness and finding common ground in our humanity. Though The Forgiven doesn’t rank close to Joffé’s Oscar-winning films, The Killing Fields and The Mission, it is effective and serves as a fine dual character study.
A Very Hollywood Retelling
As good as Whitaker is as Tutu, there was much backlash from South African audiences and industry professionals alike when his casting was announced in The Forgiven. It’s another example of Hollywood’s lack of confidence in the bankability of casting local actors to play various high profile roles. Many of the critics felt that John Kani or Jerry Mofokeng could have played Tutu just as effectively. Speaking of not casting locals, Bana is an Australian playing a South African. There are countless South African actors that could have played either Blomfeld or Tutu. It seems Hollywood only sees room for casting locals in secondary or tertiary roles.
Nonetheless, Whitaker and Bana nail their accents and capture the dialect impeccably, especially Bana. The film is at its finest when they are speaking at length together, the saint and the sacrilege, the savior and the fallen angel. It’s magnificently uncomfortable, and exudes some of the best acting out of either actor in either of their respective careers. Bana is terrifying as Blomfeld, imposing in stature and fierce with words of intimidation, gnarly facial expressions, and shocking acts of violence.
Whitaker’s prosthetic nose is admittedly distracting. It’s overtly obvious that it isn’t real. Unlike what Kazuhiro Tsuji did with Gary Oldman’s prosthetics in Darkest Hour, the makeup department here falls short in convincing audiences that Whitaker’s appearance is authentic. As Head of Special Projects at the Institute for Security Studies in Africa and author, Ottilia Anna Maunganidze, put it on Twitter, “Is this a spoof?”
Finding Humanity In “The Antichrist”
There is a subplot in The Forgiven with a grieving mother and an unresolved missing case of her teenage daughter, who disappeared two years prior. While Tutu searches for her remains and what happened to her, he believes Blomfeld is connected to her disappearance somehow, and sees his confession as the only way the former death squad leader could receive clemency for his atrocities. However, one of his security guards in prison was a fellow member of his hit squad, and he will do anything to cover up the truth of what they did.
Ashton and Joffé somehow bring a hint of humanity to Blomfeld’s brutal character. When he was younger, he didn’t have any personal concept of racial segregation, so he would sneak out of his racist father’s house and play with black South Africans. Piet’s father eventually found out what he was doing, and he drunkenly shot and killed every black person that Piet was hanging around.
After that, his father sent him to Zimbabwe to an all-white, male boarding school. It was there were he was brainwashed into believing his extreme, wrong views on race relations. He was taught that his ancestors flew from Great Britain to Zimbabwe, but were slaughtered by the natives there. Every murder Piet has committed has been to “avenge his ancestors.”
Eventually, Piet makes a deal with the Archbishop, and confesses everything he and the guard did at the expense of his life. In prison, “snitches” don’t make it very far.
The Power Of Forgiveness
When one of the police officers who was a member of Piet’s hit squad during Apartheid is implicated in the murder of the woman’s daughter as a result of Piet’s confession, he finally feels remorse. He is consumed with guilt and sorrow, sitting in court in front of a grieving mother. Then, something remarkable happens. The mother forgives the officer. It is a powerful scene, and is really what The Forgiven is about, at its core.
To forgive doesn’t mean to forget, but it means to move on as a people and try to make some semblance of amends so that we don’t get caught in a cycle of hatred, violence, and vengeance. It’s easier to hold a grudge for the rest of one’s life than to forgive, but the emotional toll of doing so is far worse, and forgiveness can be mutually healing. Some may say that Piet got what he deserved, not making it out of prison, others may say he should have rotted in his cell. At least he died with a sliver of honor left.
The Forgiven: An Engaging Dual Character Study
Though Megan Gill’s (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) editing may be somewhat clunky and seems to make the film meander a bit, South African native Zethu Mashika’s score holds the film together. One won’t want to miss the long, drawn-out scenes during which Whitaker’s Tutu and Bana’s Blomfeld talk at length; it is truly hair-raising watching these two Hollywood legends go toe-to-toe. Audiences should keep any eye out for Ashton, who shows more than enough promise to make a substantial career for himself as a screenwriter.
With potent acting by Whitaker and Bana, relevant social commentary, adept writing and direction, The Forgiven succeeds as a biopic, albeit not Joffé’s finest effort.
Did you enjoy Whitaker and Bana’s performances? Did you think The Forgiven was too heavy handed to be effective, or was it subtle in your eyes?
The Forgiven was released theatrically in the U.S. on March 9, 2018, and will expand theatrically and onto digital streaming services on March 16, 2018. For more information about its release, click here.
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