There comes a time in every life where people need to look at themselves and how they treat others different than themselves. Some people love others simply for their character and others begin to look at their differences as deficiencies and put them self in a class above those they consider themselves better than. For white teenager Harold who lives in South Africa, he's always been close to Sam and Willie, his mother's employees at the tea shop she run. They have then his confidence, his safe space when his father is raging drunk, and his teachers away from school. Now he's facing manhood and internal prejudices that he has suddenly erupt with conflicts over his father coming home from the hospital results in some very shocking outbursts. The hurt on the faces of the two men, Ving Rhames and Patrick Mofokeng, is something that will live with Harold (Freddie Highmore) for the rest of his life. Mofokeng is subservient and passive while Rhames tells him in a firm and gentle way how this has made him feel and how it will impact their relationship going forward, and having had referred to him as Harold prior to that now ads master to his reference.

A very powerful human drama where the men all of a sudden treated in a degrading manner realize that time in Harold's life has transitioned out of friendship. The two men are very dignified and do not erupt in anger as a result of being treated in a racist way, and for them, it's more than the silly outbursts of a teenage boy. Had it been a stranger on the street they could have easily overlooked it, but for someone they consider to be close, the hurt is unrepairable. Even if they were to become friendly again, that moment has changed everything. The performances and directions are uniformly great, with Jennifer Steyn worthy of mention as well as the troubled mother who is very stern and rather unfair with her two employees obviously racially conflicted over her son's closeness with them. This works very well because had it been presented with anger or violence, the points wouldn't have had the same impact.

This film version of South African playwright Athol Fugard's play is, like the original, quite powerful and moving. It has much to say about institutional racism and apartheid how it effected everyday normal people in South Africa of the early 1950's on both sides of the color divide. Freddie Highmore, Ving Rhames, and Patrick Mofokeng all give superb performances.

My review may contain minor spoilers:

Yes, the casting decisions were right on! The wonderful Ving Rhames is Sam and Freddie Highmore is Hally (or "Master Harold") in what could have been a terrific movie. Unfortunately, the disjointed direction and script make this a somewhat confusing movie.

Hally is a sensitive young teenager who's bullied at school and abused at home by his alcoholic, racist father. They live in South Africa during Apartheid, so the viewpoints were pretty much normal. However, Hally has a friend in Sam. Sam is a Black worker in Hally's family restaurant. He's kind and patient. He has given Hally the only rare good childhood memories he's ever had.....like learning to fly a kite. There's a side plot that concerns Willie (Patrick Mofokeng),the other restaurant worker and friend of Sam. Willie is concerned with entering a Ballroom Dancing competition. Sam speaks to Willie about not beating his wife. So the movie deals with other forms of abuse.

When he learns that his father is going to be released from the hospital, Hally has a meltdown. He finally snaps and takes his anger out on Sam and Willie. What Hally does to Sam is ugly and demeaning. The last scenes between a dignified Sam and cold Hally are golden. The ending was predictable given the time and place.

I really wanted to love this movie. Both lead stars are terrific in carrying their roles. But the movie tends to meander too quickly in other directions and the filming is even messy. It could have been so much better!