Facing the Truth

The years 1960 through 1994 were a time of terror in South Africa. With the destruction of the yoke of apartheid in 1994, South Africa has had to come to terms with its oppressive past: recrimination and punishment, or forgiveness? This compelling program describes the efforts of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to investigate human rights violations, to heal the country, and to help South Africa in its process of reinvention. Prize-winning journalist Bill Moyers and producer-director Gail Pellett speak with apartheid victims to hear their stories firsthand.

Additional interviews with Nobel laureate and TRC architect Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former officers of state security, counterterrorists, and journalists—combined with footage of some of the most dramatic confrontations that occurred during the TRC hearings—round out this powerful documentary. As the US wrestles with its own heritage of discrimination and injustice, the TRC’s process offers insights into how America might improve its own future through reconciliation and forgiveness. (1999)