Death Of A Whistleblower

1986 was a volatile year in South African history. The white supremacist authorities knew that they were losing control. International pressure was weakening the economy, whilst internally, efforts to bring about change were gaining more and more support. Unsurprisingly, some of those who had clung to power through cruelty feared what might happen to them when their regime inevitably fell, so they began developing still more extreme tactics, plotting genocide. This was the context in which Project Coast emerged.

You won’t hear that name until some way into Ian Gabriel’s film, which had its première at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, but it is in 1986 that it opens, with a white man and a white woman fighting in a small apartment. This looks like a familiar case of domestic abuse. When the woman flees the apartment wearing only a slip and the man pursues her in his car, you may well fear what will happen to her if he catches her, but in fact there is more going on here, and it’s the place where she chooses to seek refuge which seals her fate.

Flash forward 37 years. A group of soldiers are clearing out an old military base. One of them, Albert (Irshaad Ally), comes across a video of the woman’s arrest and realises that he has seen something he’s not supposed to. Alarmed, he makes copies of key images and documents, risking his own neck to send them to a journalist. Luyanda (Noxolo Diamini) is a journalist, but not that one. She wishes her life were that exciting, but can’t persuade her nervous editor to back her when she wants to pursue edgy stories. One night, when she’s drowning her sorrows in bar, she’s approached by Stanley, an older white man who wants to lure her away to his publication, telling her that he’s working on an exciting case. She’s tempted, and not just professionally – but the next day, when they’re driving to work, a violent incident occurs, and soon Luyanda finds herself investigating the 37 year old mystery by herself, with at least one assassin on her tail.

South Africa is the go-to place for thrillers these days, like the US in the 1970s, and Death Of A Whistleblower does not disappoint. Using fictional characters to explore real issues, it takes on some of the darkest parts of the country’s history but in a context which brings the story right up to date, also looking at issues around the international arms trade and the privatisation of military service providers today. It’s well paced and energetic, with some stunning action scenes. No suggestion is made that Luyanda has had military training or similar, and sometimes what she is able to achieve stretches credulity a little, but it’s fun to watch.

All of the actors are well cast here, with S’Thandiwe Kgoroge deserving of particular notice for her outstanding supporting work. The film is also stylishly shot throughout. Gabriel has a good understanding of how to build set pieces into the film without interrupting the flow, so there’s a lot to enjoy, both for cineastes and for those who simply like watching chases and fights which dazzle the eye and deliver visceral thrills.

South Africa’s famous post-Apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Committee was intended, in part, to persuade other facist rulers around the world to let go of power by assuring them that there was a way they could survive the process – but now, in a world where the far right is coming to power in more and more countries, one might ask if it has emboldened a new generation of fascists by suggesting that they can get away with pretty much anything they choose to do whilst it lasts. In this context, Death Of A Whistleblower mounts a timely challenge. It’s a thriller with nerve and purpose and flair.