Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 15-May-05
Spoiler Rating: Medium

Stander (2004)

As George Clooney says in "Out of Sight," bank robbers are generally stupid. Apparently he's right: a study published on www.fbi.gov concludes that the majority of such criminals "are clearly amateurs" and that "the money obtained in a bank robbery is low, especially considering the amount of physical risk and the high probability of apprehension involved for the offender." All pain, no gain — why do people do it? And is our Hollywood culture completely nuts to lionize these felons in movies like "Bonnie and Clyde" and heist hybrids like "Ocean's 11?" The biographical film "Stander" doesn't answer these questions, but it digs a little deeper than most. While still going gaga over the anarchic cool of thieves, it portrays a complex man whose motives go beyond mere greed and stupidity.

The movie takes its name from the main character, André Stander (Thomas Jane), who is based on a real-life crime legend from the early 1980s. In the opening scenes we learn three important things about him: (1) he's a South African cop; (2) he's got a wild side; and (3) he's deeply in love with his wife (Deborah Kara Unger), who has just granted him a second chance after a failed first marriage. Like his apartheid-stricken homeland, Stander is poised uneasily between two destinies: that of a conventional hero eager to serve his family and the status quo, and that of a fiery rebel ready to act out his anger at an unjust society. A bloody clash with black protesters decides his fate, sending him into a bank one day to hold it up on the spur of the moment. Thereafter, he commits 26 daring robberies — which he himself then investigates as a captain of police — before being caught and sentenced to three decades in jail.

The first part of the picture is told in bracing, no-nonsense fashion by director Bronwen Hughes, but afterward she gives way to a more stylish depiction of her subject. The middle recounts how Stander broke out of prison and formed a notorious team with a pair of fellow cons (David Patrick O'Hara and Dexter Fletcher). As the law and the news media stood by in wonder, the "Stander gang" obtained enough money to buy a mansion, a Porsche, and a yacht from unwitting or unscrupulous sellers, once even withdrawing funds from the same bank twice in one day. Like his cinematic brethren, Stander comes across in this part of the movie as a smooth counterculture icon, the bad guy you ought to admire because he brazenly sticks it to the Man. ("He gets away with something everyone wishes they could do" is the other disgusting bit of conventional wisdom echoed here.)

Yet as the film progresses and the character's life becomes more precarious, the depiction of Stander becomes less clear-cut. If the film weren't factually based, it might trip over its mix of criminal-as-celebrity chic and more serious political and psychological issues. But because André Stander was real, the story's varying aspects pique one's curiosity about the man behind the mask (or false mustache, whatever). How much did apartheid influence his actions? To what extent was he defying his father, who had also been a policeman? Was the rush of power he got from robbing a bank similar to what he felt as a cop, only stronger? Did his desire for crime really trump a passionate desire for his wife? In short, what factors compelled an intelligent man to pursue an idiot's dream? Stander may truly have been the sexy rebel that Hollywood would have him be, but this film suggests more to the story than capitalism and cool. It's the questions you take away from "Stander," not the answers, that make it worthwhile.

Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.