As the 1980's draw to a close, South Africa faces an escalation in its political unrest, and in Johannesburg three young women friends since university are confronted by the reality of the differences that exist between them. Sophie (Fox, in a blisteringly intense performance as an only-child of distant parents) has a white middle-class background, works as a librarian by day, and unknown to the others plants bombs for the ANC by night; Thoko (Kente) is a black English teacher who fights for a better life for her students through non-violent means and Aninka (Burgers) is an Afrikaans archeologist who blocks out the turmoil around her and looks to the past for her answers instead.
Thus far based on a false intimacy, the women's friendship fails to acknowledge these distinctions and prevents them from relating to each other on anything but a superficial level. The road to a better understanding their own as well as the country as a whole is a painful one. The involvement of Fox in a terrorist act which kills two people, in particular, threatens to preclude the true friendship she so desperately needs.
Ultimately, what writer-director Elaine Proctor offers up here is a lovingly crafted portrait of her native Johannesburg in all its horror and beauty the leafy suburbs, the savagely picturesque veldt, the troubled townships. And with no accusations made, nor blame laid on any particular race or organisation, this powerful, moving and uplifting film uses its unfailingly human story to convey its anti-apartheid message without a hint of the righteousness which so often accompanies such statements. Intelligent, affecting and thoroughly thought-provoking cinema.