On Thursday, the Wasserman Cinematheque in the Sachar International Center screened Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa, sponsored by the International Center for Ethics Justice and Public Life and Jules Bernstein ’57, head of the Louis D. Brandeis Fund for Social Justice. The screening was attended by Sachs and the film’s director, Abby Ginzberg, and was followed by question-and-answer session with the two.

Through her film, Ginzberg captured the South African anti-apartheid movement by focusing on the personal story of Sachs, an activist and former judge in the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Ginzberg invites the audience to think more critically about the elements that compose an equal society while showing the sacrifice and struggle activists faced to achieve democracy.

Soft Vengeance starts with footage of the bomb attack that cost Sachs his right arm and sight in one of his eyes. At that moment, I could feel the tension rising from the audience. Images of Sachs lying down on the floor with a pool of blood surrounding him kept the audience in silence, eager to know what would happen next.

After the opening scene, the story moves back a few years to when the South African anti-apartheid movement started. In 1948, the National Party rose to power, obtaining control of the South African government. Soon the party started enforcing segregation laws between the black majority and the white minority. These laws deprived black people from any political participation, taking away their human rights and forcing them into a status of second-class citizens.

Sachs rose up as one of the handful of young white people eager to make a change.

This desire for social change came with strong repercussions. Ironically, as a lawyer at the time, Sachs came into conflict with the law for taking actions like sitting on a bench designated only for black people as well as for taking part in forming anti-apartheid groups. As a consequence, Sachs faced incarceration, torture by sleep deprivation and, later, an exile.

One thing that became evident throughout the film was Sachs’ commitment to peace. While lying in a hospital bed, Sachs received a note from other anti-apartheid activist informing him that they would avenge the attack. To this, Sachs responded, “Avenge me—Where is that going to get us? If we get democracy and freedom in South Africa, that would be my soft vengeance.” This ideology accompanied him in the anti-apartheid movement and after as a judge in the Supreme Court of South Africa. During the prosecution of militants involved in the killing and torture of activists, the government felt pressured by the public to implement a death sentence. Despite this pressure, Sachs and others refused to start a new government with the same tradition of violence and oppression as the former one.

Although the film places Sachs as the center of the narrative, it goes further to talk about the whole movement. Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa mentions other activsts, the violent response of the South Africa government and the changes that the country has experienced from that moment in history until now.

This film captures the richness and strength, not only of the country but the people that dedicated their life for social justice.

Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa invites this new generation to think critically about what it means to achieve social justice and what we would be willing to give up to reach that goal. It also leaves an important message for anyone searching for social change: that justice cannot exist without peace, and peace is empty without forgiveness.