This movie is basically a small-town soap opera with a bite to it. 18-year-old Engela moves in with her aunt Miems and uncle Boetman (who are brother and sister, not husband and wife) in a South African village around 1947. Boetman is mentally retarded and doesn't speak. Almost concurrent with Engela's arrival is that of Rosinsky, a Pole who has emigrated from his war-torn homeland to become the local schoolteacher. He takes up quarters at Miems' house.
Most of the local land is owned by Stratford, a mean, lecherous old geezer who's boinking the town slut Susanna; Stratford's wife is the self-appointed local champion of political incorrectness. Their son Arthur gets the hots for Engela almost immediately, and is just as quickly squelched by his mother. Arthur pursues Engela anyway, but is so boorish about it he doesn't stand a chance.
Meanwhile, it doesn't take Rosinsky long to get his plate piled up pretty high. He's nice to everybody, which doesn't go over well in this place. He treats the blacks like equals, which scandalizes the whites and makes the blacks suspicious; he's nice to village idiot Boetman, which rather gets him in trouble eventually; he's nice to Engela, which fuels a feud with Arthur; and he invites the black kids into his white schoolroom so that they can learn too.
The father of one of the white kids finally runs the black kids out of the school and threatens Rosinsky, who follows the kids home and makes peace with the leader of the black community. Meanwhile, Susanna throws Stratford over for marriage with someone else, and the real trouble starts at her wedding. Three goons who never seem to have anything to do but pick on Boetman take him out, give him some liquor, and persuade him to climb a windmill. He falls, knocking a lantern over in the dry straw, and the villagers spend the rest of the night putting out the blaze. Boetman gets charred, as the three goons started to pull him to safety but then decided it wasn't worth the effort.
Stratford goes after Rosinsky for this, since it's as good an excuse as any to harrass the most disliked man in the vicinity. Rosinsky leaves town, paving the way for Arthur who seems to have acquired enough manners by this time that Engela can at least stand to be around him. But not for long. Rosinsky comes back; Arthur catches him at Engela's house; and while he's fuming over this, his mother informs him she's just found out that Engela is half black. (At this point Arthur's beloved Engela suddenly becomes "that colored bitch." True love is always so intense in the movies, isn't it?) Rosinsky and Engela, who have now declared their love to each other, make a break for the train station. They are stymied by Stratford, who gets there first with a posse. Finally they're caught, and Rosinsky is shot by Stratford. In the voice-over eplilogue, as the story is told by Engela many years later, she spent the rest of her life living as a member of the black community.
It's rather interesting tracking the political psychology in this thing. Most of it is provided by Mrs. Stratford, who doesn't seem to like anybody who's not a white South African. She doesn't think much of the English, though they're acceptable if they're from a good family. Engela, who is a white South African - at least as far as anyone knows - she dismisses outright as a suitable match for her son, presumably on the grounds that the family is poor and unpedigreed. Miems tells Rosinsky shortly after his arrival that the local men are going to be suspicious that he's not yet married at his age, so there's your homophobia; and while all that doesn't leave much room for anti-Semitism, you get a dose of that too. It's a wonder these people didn't just have it out in one massive free-for-all, last one standing gets the moonshine still and Susanna's memorial knickers.
Both Rosinsky and Engela are sweet, introverted types and I had Forbidden flashbacks watching this movie. Jürgen plays Rosinsky the way I'd have preferred to see Fritz done: intellectual and soft-spoken, but with a whole lot more backbone. Of course, Rosinsky could afford to have backbone; he didn't have Nina and Mama pushing him around. You can also get Cop and the Girl flashbacks from this, what with Engela's pouty dark beauty, the age difference and the "us against the world" factor. But this is one of the best-working romances of this type that I've seen in a Prochnow movie to date, as there are no overt signs that anything's happening until late in the game - they're just friends for the longest time - and yet when they do hook up, it's no surprise and it works because of the way it's played out. It's not a passionate romance, but one of mutual understanding, respect and deep regard for one another. The pacing of development is perfect, and you have to be on their side.
It's impressive that with as much nonsense as you see going on in this little community, moving from one group of people to another, the movie never drags. Everybody is interesting, and even those who could be seen as stock characters in this setup have a life of their own. It's never trite or cartoonish. Danny Keogh, who was highly involved in the movie behind the camera as well as in front of it, is superb as Boetman. From now on I want all writers, actors and directors to watch him in this before attempting any "village idiot" schtick. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever seen that done right.