Endgame

"THIS FILM, LIKE 'FROST/NIXON,' MAGNIFIES THE PERSONAL CONFLICTS AND CONCILIATIONS THAT MAKE FOR GOOD STORYTELLING. THE FILM IS LABELED A POLITICAL THRILLER WITH SOME LEGITIMACY, SINCE IT DOES HAVE SUSPENSE, MENACE AND EVEN A SCARY CAR CHASE." - THE NEW YORK TIMES "REMARKABLE & ALL EYES ARE ON EJIOFOR AND HURT, WHO EACH DELIVER TWO MARVELOUS PERFORMANCES, POWERFUL AND UNDERSTATED, THAT BRILLIANTLY CAPTURE HOW SMALL AND DISCRETE THE DEFINING MOMENTS OF HISTORY CAN BE." - LOS ANGELES TIMES "THE PERFORMANCES ARE SUPERB THROUGHOUT, PARTICULARLY THOSE OF MILLER, HURT, EJIOFOR AND CLARKE PETERS, AS MANDELA." - SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE "EFFECTIVE ENDGAME DEPICTS THE LAST DAYS OF APARTHEID. THE FILM VIVIDLY DEPICTS THE ATMOSPHERE OF TERROR AND REPRESSION THAT GRIPPED THE NATION& A HIGH-STAKES GAME OF POKER - ONE THAT COULD GET THE PLAYERS AT THE TABLE KILLED. " - CHICAGO TRIBUNE "GRITTY AND RIPPING WITH TENSION" - THE BOSTON GLOBE ". RIVETING AND INSIGHTFUL. THIS MOVIE DESERVES TO BE SEEN, NOT ONLY BECAUSE OF ITS EXCELLENT DEPICTION OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS IN SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY AS WELL AS WORLD HISTORY IN GENERAL, BUT BECAUSE IT'S ALSO A VERY HONEST AND INTROSPECTIVE FILM ABOUT A TIME WHEN MADNESS, RACISM AND VIOLENCE RAN RAMPANT THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY, AND ALSO A VERY SUSPENSEFUL AND THRILLING ONE AS WELL." - EFILMCRITIC.COM "RIVETING...STRIKING...HYPNOTICALLY GRIPPING" - THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER "CRACKLING" - VARIETY "EXCELLENT" - THE OBSERVER "SUPERB" - THE INDEPENDENT "UNMISSABLE" - THE TIMES "COMPELLING - AND MOVING" - THE DAILY MAIL "ABSORBING& TRAVIS IS INCREDIBLY GIFTED AT BUILDING TENSION." - SCREEN DAILY "A FILM THAT THRILLS. AS TENSE AND GRIPPING AS IT IS HUMAN AND MOVING." - THE GUARDIAN

Written by: Paula Milne
Directed by: Peter Travis

Starring: William Hurt (Academy Award Winner), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Nominated For 2 Golden Globes), Jonny Lee Miller Mark Strong

This is a gripping and sophisticated political thriller full of intriguing and unexpected heroes.

Set in South Africa, 1985, this is a gripping and sophisticated political thriller full of intriguing and unexpected heroes. While the country is under siege, sanctions are biting, Mandela's imprisonment is an international cause celebre, and the ANC guerrilla terrorist attacks are escalating. Every day the country is more ungovernable as it plunges towards the apocalypse of a race war.

In saner moments everyone knows the vile apartheid regime is doomed but will the transition to democracy be peaceful or bloody? Working for P.W. Botha as a somewhat Machiavellian Head of Intelligence, Doctor Neil Barnard opens furtive talks with Nelson Mandela who is still in prison. But lesser known are the secret talks that take place in the unlikely setting of a rural English manor house, arranged by a British businessman and sponsored by a mining company seeking to secure its own future in South Africa. Both sides have everything to win or to lose, including their own lives. The stakes are immense, the secrecy imperative.

But while influential Afrikaners sit down face to face with their fiercest enemies from the ANC, led by future President Thabo Mbeki, Botha learns of the UK talks. If the demise of apartheid is inevitable he intends to control the endgame by employing the tactics of divide and rule. Dr. Barnard must wring as many concessions out of Mandela as he can whilst instructing the Afrikaners to do the same with the ANC in the UK - then play one against the other.

Against all the odds, through volatile discussion, intrigue and breakthroughs, they achieve the unimaginable - a precious arena of frail trust between the two warring parties.

In the current climate of the expression "war on terror," this inspiring film has never had more relevance.