‘Journey’ comes to light

Greg Risling

The reaction has been nearly identical at every screening Peter and Linda

Biehl have attended.

In New York, no one moved. In South Africa, a group of college students

gazed in awe. In Park City, Utah, the crowd didn’t budge while they tried

to compose themselves.

The credits roll and fade to black, but audience members don’t leave

their seats. The fortunate few who have seen the award-winning

documentary, “Long Night’s Journey Into Day,” have been emotionally

wrought by its dramatic story line: four cases in which truth and

forgiveness quell the hatred and contempt in racially divided South

Africa.

The movie will make its West Coast debut Wednesday in Newport Beach,

where the Biehls lived when their 26-year-old daughter, Amy, was killed

seven years ago. The slaying by an angry mob in a South African township

is one of the film’s cornerstones.

“We were almost speechless when we saw the movie,” said Peter Biehl, who

traveled with his wife from Cape Town, South Africa, in January to watch

the film at the renowned Sundance Film Festival in Park City. The movie

won the prestigious Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary at the two-week

festival.

The Biehls said they were blown away.

“The story is so powerfully told,” Peter said. “It’s not just about Amy.

It’s about the struggle of others that really resonates with people.”

The screening at the Newport Beach Film Festival marks the fourth time

the film has been shown publicly.

Amy Biehl was killed in August 1993 when she was driving a group of

friends to their homes in the township of Guguletu on the outskirts of

Cape Town. The idealistic Fulbright scholar had traveled to Africa after

graduating from Stanford University and was helping register voters for

the country’s first all-race elections the following year.

She encountered a mob shouting anti-white slogans. She was pulled from

her car and bludgeoned and stabbed to death as she lay in the street.

In a strange role of race reversal, Amy was killed because of her skin

color.

Five years later, the men who killed her appeared in front of the Truth

and Reconciliation Commission, asking for amnesty. The commission, which

deals with the four cases in the film, was formed in order to allow

confessions to abuses during the country’s apartheid era that pitted the

white-minority government against black militants.

The commission pardoned the four killers, who were serving 18-year prison

terms for Amy’s murder. Her parents supported the commission’s decision,

stating their daughter would have wanted the same.

Contacted three years ago by filmmakers, the Biehls were skeptical that a

movie would be a good vehicle for their daughter’s story.

“I think our reason was that we didn’t understand the industry and we

don’t see a lot of films,” Peter said.

When the couple learned the movie would be a documentary and not a

recreation of events, the Biehls supported directors Deborah Hoffman and

Frances Reid.

The film crew followed the Biehls on a windy journey since their

daughter’s death. They recorded the moment when the Biehls met one of

their daughter’s killers and his family, and also documented the couple’s

efforts to continue Amy’s legacy.

For two years, filmmakers have watched the Biehls create violence

prevention programs in impoverished shantytowns. They have also built two

bakeries that employ people in the lower-income bracket. Biehl estimates

the bakeries will generate more than $200,000 per year. The money will be

funneled back into programs the Biehls started.

They have moved to La Quinta, outside Palm Springs, and spend most of the

year in South Africa. Although progress was made after the election of

Nelson Mandela, Biehl said many blacks living in poverty have grown

impatient with the slow-moving hands of government.

“Walking around the townships, we see a lot of uneasiness,” he said. “The

violence hasn’t escalated to the point it had before, but we see a lot of

signs that it could.”

As for the film, the Biehls couldn’t be more proud. Cable giant Home Box

Office has obtained the film’s rights and will likely show the

documentary next year.

The couple will attend the film’s premiere at the Newport Beach Film

Festival, somewhat of homecoming in honor of their slain daughter.

“Coming back does have special meaning for us,” Peter said. “We are

delighted Orange County will have an opportunity to see what we see in

our work in South Africa, and to appreciate the monumental job of

restoring peace there.”