Amazing what late-night talks over single-malt scotch can do. Maybe we should send cases to the Middle East, Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and anywhere else there’s a political stalemate.
When a British businessman put himself in the middle of the seemingly irreconcilable international standoff over apartheid, he launched a five-year process of secret peace talks with stunning results.
The idea of dramatizing closed-door talks doesn’t, on the face of it, hold the promise of a compelling political thriller. But fine acting and the scope of the topic make “Endgame,” a fact-based drama airing Sunday at 9 p.m. on KRMA-Channel 6, a taut, engaging two hours.
Moments of action-adventure give way to more cerebral tactics as “Endgame” re-creates the events of the 1980s when Michael Young, who had no experience in statesmanship, brought together the leaders of the exiled African National Congress and the racist Afrikaner ruling class of South Africa for secret meetings at a historic mansion in the English countryside. The goal was nothing less than to end apartheid and to free Nelson Mandela.
“Endgame” is the story of individuals willing to see themselves as small players engaged in something larger than their egos. Laced with death threats, phone taps and high drama, and set against the backdrop of a country on the verge of civil war, the action bounces among London, the South African townships and the verbal minefields faced at the negotiating table.
In England, long walks on the grounds of the estate and cryptic phone calls inch the process along. In South Africa, harassment and instances of terrorism, including car bombings, nearly derail the talks at several points. Meanwhile, secret notes are passed to Mandela in captivity — and, at the secluded mansion, trust is slowly built.
William Hurt (“Damages”) variously masters and mangles the Afrikaner accent as Willie Esterhuyse, a professor who equally abhors apartheid and the violent tactics of the ANC.
Jonny Lee Miller (“Eli Stone”) plays Young, the British mining company executive who takes it upon himself to bring the two sides together. Young is, at first, a central figure, eventually and willfully fading into the background.
Chiwetel Ejiofor (“American Gangster”) is riveting as Thabo Mbeki, the ANC’s representative in what became known as the “talks about talks.”
Mbeki was later chosen by Mandela to be the first deputy president of the new Government of National Unity in 1994, became president of the ANC in 1997 and two years later was elected president of South Africa.
Clarke Peters (“The Wire”) brings a sensitive mix of gravity and humility to the role as Mandela. And Derek Jacobi (“Gosford Park”) has a small part as head of the British gold company.
In “Endgame,” from PBS Masterpiece, there is not only an array of great actors bringing little-known history to life — there is hope.
Cloud returns.
He’s got to be 14 by now, and still running where the wild things are.
Fans of “Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies” and “Cloud’s Legacy: The Wild Stallion Returns” will welcome the third chapter in this series about the horse who roams the Montana mountains, lovingly chronicled since birth by Emmy-winning filmmaker Ginger Kathrens.
The first-person narration occasionally indulges in anthropomorphic asides, but “Cloud: Challenge of the Stallions” is fascinating as it observes the springtime rituals of stallions competing for mares in the herd. People, particularly teen girls, seem to be crazy for this horsy series. The latest “Cloud” spotting: Sunday at 7 p.m. on KRMA- Channel 6.
IFC gets “Arrested.”
All three seasons of the great Mitch Hurwitz comedy “Arrested Development” have been picked up by IFC (Comcast channel 503 in metro Denver) and will air beginning Sunday, two episodes a week, at 8 and 8:30 p.m.
Kendrick to Columbus.
Bob Kendrick, downsized from KUSA due to cost-cutting last year and briefly a weekend anchor in Vancouver, British Columbia, joins WSYX-TV, the ABC affiliate in Columbus, Ohio, as main anchor for the weekday newscasts at 5, 6, 10 and 11 p.m.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
