South African cinema, other than the films of Neill Blomkamp, tend not to reach an American audience, which makes Indemnity a worthwhile viewing in and of itself. The film is in Afrikaans and English, with subtitles, and follows all the tropes of a regular conspiracy thriller: broken hero? Check. Corrupt system? Check. Bad Guy at the heights of power and almost untouchable? Check? Seeming villains revealed to be friends, and friends betraying the hero unexpectedly? Check. Guns that never run out of bullets until the plot needs them to? Check? Impossible situations (“we need to break into the corporate headquarters of the bad guys and find this one thing in the CEO’s office”) somehow managed, although will go south in the execution? Check. All here. That means the film is formulaic.

However, the point of the formula is that audiences know exactly what to expect, and we watch to see if the resolution is satisfactory, if the performers are believable, and if we are able to allow the formula to manipulate us into the expected emotions. Also, the explosions, lotsa gunfire and maybe at least someone getting kicked in the face and punched a lot. You need that in a good conspiracy thriller. Bonus points if your hero is severely beaten multiple times and still gets up and continues on to the inevitable denouement where the baddie gets his comeuppance. In this, Indemnity delivers.

In keeping with formula, Theo Abrams (Jarrid Geduld) is a Cape Town fireman, one of the best, until a pre-credit fire sequence sees two of his colleagues and friends die in front of him. He has PTSD and cannot continue being a firefighter until he continues his treatment. His wife, Angela (Nicole Fortuin) is an investigative journalist, worried for her husband, but also now aware of a dangerous conspiracy that she has been told of by Samuel Issacs (Abduragman Adams). Soon enough, Theo’s on the run for his life. As with all good conspiracy thrillers, there are twists and turns and McGuffins as he is pursued by Detective Rene Williamson (Gail Mabalane) and General Alan Shard (Andre Jacobs), with the film keeping one guessing about which one is the “good cop” and which one is in on the conspiracy.

You’ve seen this all before, but it is still a highly enjoyably romp.  The performances by Geduld, Mabalane, and Jacobs stand out, and kudos to Louw Venter for playing the role of the bad guy you love to hate and live to see die before the end of the film. The film doesn’t really take off until about a half an hour in, and that thirty minutes could be greatly shortened without missing anything. It’s nice character work and basic exposition, but the film doesn’t need it – we need to get to the kicking and shooting sooner. Having said that, if you have never seen a South African film before, make Indemnity your first – the formula makes it easy to follow, the performances and cinematography (the shots of the city with Table Mountain in the background are stunning) make it worth following and Travis Taute a writer/director to keep your eye on.

8 Out of 10