er, and helps her in her quest to uncover the truth. More and more is revealed as Ben continues his search with the help of Stanley, an energetic black rebel, and Melanie, a reporter for a British newspaper. However, as Ben probes deeper the Secret Police turn on him and his personal life fall apart before his eyes. Although the ending is very different in the novel than in the film, in both Ben is killed by the Secret Police. Fortunately he has kept record of the information he has uncovered and his story gets told after all as the reports are passed on and published.The basic story line was preserved in the making of the film, as are the main ideas. It is the way the film presents the issues to its audience that makes the difference. Euzhan Palcy left a lot out of the movie- partially because some things are impossible to carry over into a film, such as Bens internal monologue and the descriptive imagery present in the novel- and partially because she had a different focus and motive in making the film. As a result of this, she not only omits those things which are unique to a novel, but also omits some very important characters, important character development, characters actions, and even goes as far as to insert some actions that were not present in the novel. The result is a forceful look at the conditions of South Africans- blacks in particular. It causes its audience to think, no doubt, but fails to cause them to relate to the main character as the novel does.It is a shame that one cannot truly show Benjamin Du Toits poetic, well-worded, thought provoking internal monologues in the film. The only insight into his mind comes when we hear his thoughts as he finishes writing his record of what he has uncovered. He writes, If by writing this I can change the opinion of one man who is as blind to the world as I have been, then I will have given some meaning to my life. This is the closest the movie ever comes to getting a...
