Wrong Side of the Bus

Summary

 What obligation does a "bystander" have to speak out against the injustice he sees before him? This is the question Sidney Bloch, a professor of Psychiatry in Sydney, Australia, has been grappling with for the past forty years.

Growing up as a privileged white in South Africa during apartheid, he left the country the minute he graduated and has been wracked with guilt over his inaction ever since. His 40th medical school reunion draws him back to Cape Town with an agenda to reconcile his guilt once and for all. Bringing his teenage son along, the two visit sites of Sydney’s childhood, speak to strangers on the street and re-connect with old friends. The journey proves highly emotional for Sydney and his son turns out to be his harshest critic, shedding light on his father’s prejudices and hypocrisies.

Setting up an informal reconciliation session with his old classmates, Sydney confronts his past in a greater and more complex way than he could have imagined. A powerful film and an astute examination of the complexities and hardship of apartheid, “The Wrong Side of the Bus” is a remarkably moving story celebrating the sheer power of forgiveness.

RATED: G