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Where Truth Lies

Where Truth Lies

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This moving film is about one of the many terrible cases to come before the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). 22-year-old student leader Siphiwo Mtimkulu, and his friend Topsy Madaka, were shot and burned in 1982 by the feared Security Police under the former apartheid government.

Gideon Nieuwoudt - nicknamed 'Notorious Nieuwoudt' - was a colonel in the Security Police. He and his colleagues are responsible for the torture, poisoning, and death of numerous black activists, including Steve Biko. In 1995 a group of top Security Police officers got a court order to block Mtimkulu's family from giving evidence before the TRC, threatening to undermine the whole process. 48 hours before the deadline expired, the officers finally applied for amnesty. Filmmaker Mark Kaplan documented the case for three years, during which time Nieuwoudt met with the Mtimkulu family seeking their forgiveness with unexpected and dramatic consequences.

Kaplan claims this case is a testimony to the best and worst of which mankind is capable.

Other titles in the series are:
Going Home - 10-year old soldier escapes rebel forces in Sierra Leone.
Till Death Do Us Part - Widows are denied inheritance and property rights in Nigeria.
In the Name of Safety - False imprisonment violates due process in Bangladesh.
Smiles: The Hypocrisy of Thai Politics - The struggle for greater democracy and free speech in Thailand.
Discipline with Dignity - The attempt to end corporal punishment in Nepalese schools.