Directed by:
Oliver SchmitzScreenplay:
Brian CoxCinematography:
Leah StrikerComposer:
Paul HepkerCast:
Steve Coogan, Andrea Riseborough, Garion Dowds, Robert Hobbs, Deon Lotz, Carel Nel, Jay-Jay Botha, Inge Beckmann, De Klerk Oelofse, Siya Mayola, Brett Williams (more)Plots(1)
South Africa in 1987. A rainy night near Pretoria. A young white man races his car through the streets and feels harassed by a minibus. When both vehicles come to a halt and the door of the bus opens, he fires into the bus at its occupants. The victims: seven black members of a football club. The perpetrator is put on trial. Leon Labuschagne, 19 years old, works as a prison guard in a high security wing. His defence lawyer would appear to be fighting a losing battle and a death sentence seems unavoidable. But then he begins to conduct research and ask which circumstances in the life of this young father and active church member could have driven him to run amok. Do the murders have anything to do with Leon's work at the prison? With the incomprehensible fact that, in the last two years, he has been required to administer the death penalty no fewer than 160 times? In this courtroom drama based on actual events, Oliver Schmitz exposes the traumatic experiences of a police employee forced to be an executioner. The film's reflection upon individual and collective guilt and how violence only breeds more violence results in an emphatic plea against the death penalty. (Berlinale)
(more)Cast
![Steve Coogan](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/273/273939_e72f31.jpg)
Steve Coogan
UK
Best movies:
Hot Fuzz (2007)
What Maisie Knew (2012)
24 Hour Party People (2002)
![Andrea Riseborough](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/162/572/162572911_f1d9f8.jpg)
Andrea Riseborough
UK
Best movies:
Disconnect (2012)
Shepherds and Butchers (2016)
Nocturnal Animals (2016)
![Garion Dowds](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/161/880/161880136_08eb34.jpg)
Garion Dowds
Best movies:
Shepherds and Butchers (2016)
The Gamechangers (2015) (TV movie)
Serenity (2019)
![Robert Hobbs](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/280/280070_33c14f.jpg)
Robert Hobbs
Best movies:
District 9 (2009)
Roots (2016) (series)
Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema (2008)
Deon Lotz
Best movies:
Shepherds and Butchers (2016)
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013)
Black Beauty (2020)
Carel Nel
Best movies:
Girl You Know It's True (2023)
Roots (2016) (series)
The Salvation (2014)
Jay-Jay Botha
South Africa
Best movies:
Shepherds and Butchers (2016)
The Odyssey (2016)
The Gamechangers (2015) (TV movie)
Inge Beckmann
Best movies:
City of Violence (2013)
Shepherds and Butchers (2016)
The Gamechangers (2015) (TV movie)
De Klerk Oelofse
Best movies:
Shepherds and Butchers (2016)
House Party: Tonight's the Night (2013)
The Last Days of American Crime (2020)
Siya Mayola
Best movies:
Wallander (2008) (series)
Shepherds and Butchers (2016)
Moffie (2019)
Brett Williams
South Africa
Best movies:
Shepherds and Butchers (2016)
The Odyssey (2016)
The Red Sea Diving Resort (2019)
Julian Koberman
Best movies:
Wallander (2008) (series)
Shepherds and Butchers (2016)
Blast (2004)
Khayalethu Anthony
Best movies:
Shepherds and Butchers (2016)
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013)
Monelisi Magadia
Best movies:
Shepherds and Butchers (2016)