Skip to main content

Checkmate: An Advance Review of PBS' "Endgame" on "Masterpiece Contemporary"

Apartheid is an ugly word, conjuring up images of racial segregation and hatred from a time in the not-too-distant past of South Africa.

PBS' new political thriller Endgame, which airs Sunday evening as part of the public broadcaster's Masterpiece Contemporary wheel, dramatizes not the plight of the common South African man and woman under the draconian decree of apartheid but rather the machinery operating behind the scenes to bring an end to apartheid once and for all.

Written by Paula Milne (Second Sight) and directed by Pete Travis (Vantage Point), Endgame revolves around a series of secret talks between the ANC and the South African government brokered by Consolidated Goldfields, a multi-national company with vested financial interests in South Africa. The talks took place at an estate in England, far away from the violent rebellion in South Africa, and despite the risk in bringing together these enemies, the open lines of communication actually did bring about stunning social and political change in South Africa.

The piece, which plays out as a political thriller rather than as a history lesson, boasts some highly impressive actors, including Clarke Peters (The Wire), William Hurt (Damages), Chiwetel Ejiofor (American Gangster), Jonny Lee Miller (Eli Stone), Mark Strong (Body of Lies), and Derek Jacobi (Gosford Park). (You can view my video interview with Ejiofor, who plays the African National Congress' Thabo Mbeki, here.)

While all of the actors deliver stunning performances (particularly Ejiofor), of particular note is Clarke Peters, who plays imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela, a global symbol of oppression and apartheid. Peters' performance is so subtle and assured that it's impossible not to be drawn into Mandela's story. His gilded cage imprisonment is a stark reminder of the games employed by the security forces (look for some Machiavellian maneuvers by Mark Strong's Neil Barnard, the South African security czar) and of the underestimation the South African government made on their gambit that they could contain the riots, violence, and Mandela himself.

However, the focus of Endgame isn't on Mandela but the aforementioned secret talks occurring on a British estate over five years' time, leading to a sensation that the piece is somewhat off-balance as a result. Mandela's story is so compelling, so remarkably courageous and stirring, that it seems almost shoehorned in as a subplot rather than as the main emphasis of the piece. Part of that is due to the magnetism of Peters but also because Mandela's story is so well-known and moving.

In trying to dramatize both the talks at Mells Park and Mandela's situation, Milne and Travis end up leading the audience in two directions at once. It's also not all that clear just how these talks lead to the abolition of apartheid in South Africa; there's a sea change so quickly that the film feels almost truncated as a result, with the talks plot wrapped up extremely quickly and unceremoniously. It's a bit as if part of Remains of the Day was grafted onto a Mandela biopic and an action-packed political thriller, with car chases, explosions, and espionage.

Which is somewhat disheartening as the performances at the heart of Endgame are so utterly fantastic. Ultimately, Endgame, despite its best intentions, doesn't quite add up to the sum of its parts. Still, it offers a glimpse behind the curtain to the power brokers, politicians, and revolutionaries who brought an end to one of the century's most evil political practices and brings to life one singular moment in time where words overcame violence.



Endgame airs Sunday evening at 9 pm as part of PBS' Masterpiece Contemporary. Check your local listings for details.

Comments

Jane Grey said…
Wow. The cast for this is incredible. But I can see how it would be difficult to make an interesting film about people talking in a room (even if the subject matter is fascinating). I will tune in anyway as I'm sure the performances are worth it. I'm particularly excited to see Clarke Peters as Mandela. I loved him in The Wire and can see how he'd be perfect for the role!

Popular posts from this blog

Have a Burning Question for Team Darlton, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, or Michael Emerson?

Lost fans: you don't have to make your way to the island via Ajira Airways in order to ask a question of the creative team or the series' stars. Televisionary is taking questions from fans to put to Lost 's executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and stars Matthew Fox ("Jack Shephard"), Evangeline Lilly ("Kate Austen"), and Michael Emerson ("Benjamin Linus") for a series of on-camera interviews taking place this weekend. If you have a specific question for any of the above producers or actors from Lost , please leave it in the comments section below . I'll be accepting questions until midnight PT tonight and, while I can't promise I'll be able to ask any specific inquiry due to the brevity of these on-camera interviews, I am looking for some insightful and thought-provoking questions to add to the mix. So who knows: your burning question might get asked after all.

What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season ...

In Defense of Downton Abbey (Or, Don't Believe Everything You Read)

The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. Which means, if I can get on my soapbox for a minute, that in order to judge something, one ought to experience it first hand. One can't know how the pudding has turned out until one actually tastes it. I was asked last week--while I was on vacation with my wife--for an interview by a journalist from The Daily Mail, who got in touch to talk to me about PBS' upcoming launch of ITV's period drama Downton Abbey , which stars Hugh Bonneville, Dame Maggie Smith, Dan Stevens, Elizabeth McGovern, and a host of others. (It launches on Sunday evening as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic ; my advance review of the first season can be read here , while my interview with Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and stars Dan Stevens and Hugh Bonneville can be read here .) Normally, I would have refused, just based on the fact that I was traveling and wasn't working, but I love Downton Abbey and am so enchanted with the proj...