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The Forgiven

Play trailer 2:17 Poster for The Forgiven R Released Mar 9, 2018 1h 55m Mystery & Thriller Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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55% Tomatometer 22 Reviews 45% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
During his life sentence in post-apartheid South Africa, brutal murderer Piet Blomfield seeks redemption through meetings with Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
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The Forgiven

Critics Reviews

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Ben Sachs Chicago Reader Unfortunately the story's emotional impact is limited by the overstated performances and the heavy-handed direction of Roland Joffé. Mar 9, 2020 Full Review Peter Rainer Christian Science Monitor No attempt is made to win over the audience. This welcome absence of sentimentality allows us to experience Tutu's own crisis of faith as he attempts to reconcile this man's actions with his bedrock belief in forgiveness. Rated: B+ Mar 9, 2018 Full Review Simon Abrams RogerEbert.com [The Forgiven] only succeeds as an ugly, empty-headed provocation. Rated: 0/4 Mar 9, 2018 Full Review Rich Cline Shadows on the Wall Strong performances from an international cast raise the interest level, and it's a vivid exploration of mercy that transcends some rather sentimental storytelling. Rated: 3/5 Jun 1, 2018 Full Review Mark R. Leeper Mark Leeper's Reviews The film gives the viewer ample reason to make Tutu a saint, but little reason to make him a dramatic screen hero. Rated: 5/10 Mar 19, 2018 Full Review Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat Spirituality & Practice A drama about the restorative justice and forgiveness work of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Rated: 4/5 Mar 16, 2018 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (20) audience reviews
Audience Member Loved the performances of Eric Bana & Forest Whitaker, they were both outstanding! I also loved the story of forgiveness & how we must all come together instead of condemning each other. Wish this movie had come out in 2020 instead of a few years ago as the message is needed now more than ever. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member The forgiven has a good story behind it and the performances from forest Whitaker and Eric Bana are very good. Unfortunately the movie itself is not. The pacing is very off and the tone needs work. Plus I found a lot of this movie to just be plain boring. In the hands of a better director I feel this could’ve been a much better movie. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 11/09/19 Full Review Audience Member The forgiven has a good story behind it and the performances from forest Whitaker and Eric Bana are very good. Unfortunately the movie itself is not. The pacing is very off and the tone needs work. Plus I found a lot of this movie to just be plain boring. In the hands of a better director I feel this could’ve been a much better movie. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 11/09/19 Full Review Audience Member Amazing, a master piece in acting. A messages to the world we all need to hear. Years in between movies like this. Thank you! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Incredibly moving and important story very well told. Powerful Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member With a run-of-the-mill subject-matter in its focal point, "The Forgiven" should have rendered itself as a novelty in the genre of films as far as mass killings and other human right violations are concerned. Instead, however, one gets to take delight only in the outstanding performance of Forest Whitaker and a cohort of finely shaped (yet, truly radicalized) characters, but definitely not in the structural oddity of the film. "The Forgiven" slow-paced and laden with verbose and hard-to-follow dialogues for an average-length production, is an achronological blend of genres, in which little time is devoted either to character analysis and or the development of a stimulating personal account (let alone the introduction of historical facts, save for two quick screenshots before the first scene morphs in). The crux of the problem lies in the fact that one man's overview of real-life events is used wrongly and somewhat solipsistically represent an era of atrocities as well as internal racial and social conflicts. "Out of sight, out of mind" is an apt motto in case one wishes to skip a sluggish product rife with unnecessarily piled-up swearwords and verbal/visual violence, which are hard to stomach and convey no additional meaning as for the morals the film may strive to achieve (or, perhaps, is swearing a manifestation of the vice of all human beings?). Whitaker's performance undoubtedly represents 2 stars of this otherwise poorly written film, whose morals are as evanescent as my memories of the product as a whole. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Forgiven

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis During his life sentence in post-apartheid South Africa, brutal murderer Piet Blomfield seeks redemption through meetings with Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Director
Roland Joffé
Producer
Craig Baumgarten, Roland Joffé, Zaheer Bhyat
Screenwriter
Roland Joffé, Michael Ashton
Distributor
Saban Films
Production Co
LINK Entertainment, Saban Films
Rating
R (Some Sexual References|Language Throughout|Disturbing/Violent Content)
Genre
Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 9, 2018, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 16, 2018
Runtime
1h 55m
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