Beyond Forgiving (2013) User Reviews

Fantastic film

[talia-smith-150-26962 · 9/10 · 3 November 2014]

Beyond Forgiving tells a profound story that everyone - no matter one's culture, religion, nationality - should hear. A story out of South Africa but it contains a message for the world. The interesting part of this documentary is the unlikely team the protagonists form: a white Christian woman and a black atheist man. Their friendship and journey together make the film extremely thought provoking, inspiring, moving and might even make you change your heart and mind. It is a moving testament to the redemptive power of the human spirit and depicts real experiences of real people who lived through the horror of injustice, violence and personal loss.

Story of remarkable reconciliation between two post-Aparthied South Africans

[mikeandjansmith-234-324577 · 8/10 · 8 February 2015]

I have had the chance to see this remarkable film several times, including at its London launch when Terry Waite, the former hostage in Lebanon, hosted the evening at the Royal Geographical Society last year. The two protagonists in the film, which was shot in Cape Town, South Africa, were also at this event. I have since bought the DVD. The film tells the story of the moving reconciliation between two remarkable South Africans. Letlapa Mphelele had ordered the Heidelburg Tavern massacre in Cape Town. Ginn Fourie's daughter was killed in that shooting. Yet Letlapa and Ginn Fourie have since become close friends thanks to her courageous ability to reach out to him and forgive. He invites her to his ceremonial home-coming in his village. Moreover she begins to recognize the culpability of the white population in South African which had led to the armed struggle for black majority rule. This is a must-see film.

Review of Beyond Forgiving

[roddyedwards · 8/10 · 10 November 2014]

Beyond Forgiving tells the story of the evolving relationship of a white, Christian South African, Ginn Fourie, whose daughter was killed in a retaliatory attack ordered by Letlapa Mphahlele, the black, atheist, leader of the military wing of the Pan Africanist Congress. I found the sparse, deeply honest dialog between these two very different South Africans compelling and giving hope that it is indeed possible to bridge the most profound enmities in any family, political, national dispute. The film also details ways that these two courageous people have inspired others. This part of the story could have been amplified better connecting this deepest of personal reconciliations to social or economic changes in communities they have visited. Perhaps this would be the subject of a follow up documentary.