Long Night's Journey into Day

This portrait of the end of the South African Apartheid era provides a dramatic inside look at one of the most innovative and ambitious attempts at dialogue and healing in human history. Award-winning filmmakers Frances Reid and Deborah Hoffman chronicle over a two and one-half-year period South Africa's quest for justice following the fall of the Apartheid government. The aftermath is seen through the eyes of those involved in four very different cases that come before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The Commission process is not about prosecuting, but about getting at the truth, according to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who had faith that it would lead to the healing of a wounded nation.

It's "retributive versus restorative justice," Tutu comments in the film. Those applying for amnesty on both sides of the apartheid divide had to commit to full public disclosure and, for many of the 7,000 individuals of either race who applied for amnesty, the process proved to be both very painful and very healing.

Long Night's Journey Into Day will inspire American viewers to re-examine the U.S. approach to racism and social justice.