One of the rare films dealing with apartheid-era South Africa made during the actual time when the white minority regime actually ruled the country is 1975 British political thriller The Wilby Conspiracy. Somewhat complicated plot begins in Cape Town with white liberal lawyer Rina van Niekirk (played by Prunella Gee) surprisingly winning freedom for her client, black anti-apartheid activist Shack Twala (played by Sidney Poitier) who spent last ten years in prison. Soon afterwards Twala gets in trouble with police together with Rina’s boyfriend, British engineer Jim Keogh (played by Michael Caine). Two men are now fugitives, literally chained to each other and forced to seek help with Twala’s old comrades in Johannesburg, while being pursued by sadistic secret police Major Horn (played by Nicol Williamson). Ralph Nelson, American director known for making politically charged films in 1960s and 1970s, manages to use complex realities of 1970s South Africa into conventional but mostly effective action film, spiced with some black humour and even one completely gratuitous sex scene. Film mostly works until somewhat weak ending, but the greatest asset is the cast. Caine and Poitier create great "buddy buddy" dynamic; two decades later two of them would appear together in 1997 television film Mandela and de Klerk as two real-life statesmen responsible for the end of apartheid regime. Fans of Rutger Hauer should appreciate The Whilby Conspiracy because the late actor briefly appears as Rina’s ex-husband in one of his first English-speaking roles.
RATING: 6/10
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