Stander (2003)

Directed by Bronwen Hughes; produced by Chris Roland and Julia Verdin

In Apartheid-era South Africa, André Stander (Thomas Jane) was the youngest captain in the police service. One day, along with most of his colleagues at his station, he is called to riot-control duty, at which he shoots and kills a protester. Deeply affected by the incident which seems to trigger a latent dissatisfaction with his life and country, Stander decides on the spur of the moment to rob a bank. Successful, he robs more, until he is caught and sent to prison. But that is just the beginning of his criminal adventures.

A very good movie about the true and extraordinary activities of an unusual man, Stander is as much a social commentary and a character study as a crime film. The first two aspects are closely related. Stander’s motivation may seem to be vague but in fact it is implied in a number of clues.

His first robbery is committed soon after he asks to be removed from riot-control work. Walking into his station, he finds only a couple of clerks: everyone else is off fighting protestors. Realising that riot-duty is disrupting every other element of police work, Stander scoffs that “ a white man can get away with anything in this country.” On his lunch-break, he robs a bank, without disguise and with his service pistol. He then returns an hour later as one of the investigators, his colleagues having a laugh over the teller explaining that the thief looked a lot like Captain Stander.

The killing of the protestor weighs upon Stander’s mind and is inextricably linked to his growing disgust with the Apartheid regime. This is manifested in other ways: his relationship with his wife is loving but highly flawed (the movie opens with their re-marriage after an earlier divorce); he has great affection for his father, a high-ranking official in the prison service, but hates the government for which they work. The script makes it clear that Stander is filled with loathing and self-loathing, but can’t express it, except by rebellion. His rebellion takes the form of robbing banks, having little other point; he does nothing with the money he steals but buy houses, cars and clothes - to be used as hide-outs, get-aways and disguises.

Even so, Stander is a crime film, as well as a study of the setting and the characters. If the events portrayed were not true, they would be incredible. The shoot-outs, the car chases, the hair-breadth escapes, are all elements of a good caper flick, but actually happened. For example, fleeing from prison, Stander and an accomplice then return to free a friend - as they had promised to do.

Whether or not André Stander was genuinely motivated by social rebellion or by the thrill of crime or both, we cannot determine. In the context of the film, the character works. As a piece of history, the script also works, showing an aspect of Apartheid rarely considered: the corrosive effect on whites of the harsh segregation policy; intended to elevate the ruling élite, it eventually corrupts and degrades it, and ruins white lives as well as black.

However it is viewed, Stander is successful and makes for an exciting, entertaining film, as thoughtful as one wants it to be.