Stander (2003)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Bronwen Hughes

Writer (WGA):

Bima Stagg (written by)

Release Date:

10 October 2003 (South Africa)

Genre:

Action | Biography | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Good cop. Great criminal.

Plot:

The life and career of Andre Stander, a South African police officer turned bank robber.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Bank Robber | Apartheid | 1980s | Jailbreak

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Thomas Jane	...	Andre Stander
Dexter Fletcher	...	Lee McCall
David O'Hara	...	Allan Heyl (as David Patrick O'Hara)
Deborah Kara Unger	...	Bekkie Stander
Ashley Taylor	...	Cor van Deventer
Marius Weyers	...	General Stander
At Botha	...	General Viljoen
Lionel Newton	...	Sergeant Smit
Melanie Merle	...	Sharmiane
Sean Else	...	Ed Janis
Peter Gardner	...	Allums
Patrick Mynhardt	...	Judge
Wikus du Toit	...	Lawyer
Drummond Marais	...	Prosecutor
Nicole Abel	...	Young Lady

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language, some sexuality and nudity.

Runtime:

116 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | USA:111 min

Country:

Canada | Germany | South Africa | UK

Language:

English | Afrikaans | Zulu

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Iceland:16 | Argentina:16 | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Canada:14A

Filming Locations:

South Africa

Company:

ApolloProMedia GmbH & Co. 1. Filmproduktion KG (I)

Trivia:

The filmmakers got to talk to Allan Heyl, one of Andre Stander's accomplices who was paroled on May 18, 2005; Cor van Deventer, his police partner; and the warden of the prison where Andre was incarcerated.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In one version of the film poster, the character Stander is shown holding a weapon. The weapon is a South African Mechem BXP submachine gun. It was not produced until four years after the real Andre Stander died.

Quotes:

Andre Stander: I'm tried for robbing banks. But, I have killed unarmed people.
Judge: That is not the business of the court.

Movie Connections:

References "Starsky and Hutch" (1975)

Soundtrack:

War In Peace

Brilliant true crime film Thomas Jane was amazing

I Just got back from a screening of This film at the Sundance film festival, and there are some corrections that need to be made from some of the other comments. After the screening the director did a Q&A where when asked was all this true, she said oddly enough "the outrageous stuff was true, and we had to add normal plot fillers to help it dramatically."

Stander never planned his robberies, he was a criminal who was sick of seeing the violence against the unarmed citizens, and tired of the crookedness of police life, that he rebelled against the system, just as a political act, not a need for money.

This film has plenty of great action scenes and alot of great comedy as well as brilliant acting by the whole cast, especially Thomas Jane who shines as Stander.

Outside of the violence and fun, there is a very powerful moral story, one of right and wrong, politics and the lonely life of a criminal. One theme I love was repeated throughout, and that is that the wrong man is always punished, or killed, when we should be looking at our government officials and their corruption, we spend too much time on the little criminals.

Very fascinating, and fun to watch, as well as thought provoking, once again the Q&A would answer all of the problems other posters had with the film, because the stuff they did not like was the actual facts behind the characters lives, just AMAZING!!