By Jenny Halper in New York City

In 1998, South African poet and journalist Antjie Krog published “Country of My Skull,” a memoir chronicling her coverage of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a series of hearings through which white perpetrators gained amnesty by apologizing to the black victims of apartheid. When director John Boorman and screenwriter Ann Peacock decided to adapt Krog’s book into a movie, they first had to find an actress with the strength, intelligence, and charisma to play Krog’s fictional counterpart. Boorman chose French superstar Juliette Binoche, most notable for her roles in “The English Patient” “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” and “Chocolat.”

Binoche stars as Anna Malan, an Afrikaans poet who falls in love with an American reporter (Samuel L. Jackson) while covering the Truth and Reconciliation trials. Through spending time with Krog and channeling personal guilt over France’s tense relations with Algeria, Binoche managed to beautifully capture both the mannerisms of a South African woman and the spirit of the real life writer. And I’m not surprised. I saw Binoche play opposite Liev Schreiber in a Broadway production of “Betrayal” several years ago, and was blown away by her onstage honesty and presence. She seems to be one of a handful of actresses with limitless range: after playing a Jewish mother opposite Richard Gere in “Bee Season,” Binoche will take the title role in Abel Ferrara’s Mary Magdalene biopic.

While promoting “In My Country,” in New York City, the actress spoke candidly about genocide, responsibility, and her latest inspiration- the African reconciliation principal “Ubuntu.”

Q: Did you get to meet Antjie Krog before you started working on your character?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: Yes I did. Actually she was generous enough to take me on a journey trip for a week, and show me the townships, and some different places in the mountains. She’s proud of her own country and she wanted to share that so I would feel the country not from an outside point of view, but feeling the landscape and the beauty of it. And also understand the trauma that happened during the Apartheid.

Q: How did you prepare to play a South African?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: First of all, the film was postponed four years so I had a year of preparation which is good because the subject is so big, you can’t get too much of it in one month. It takes time. When I started working on the movie I didn’t feel that my character was responsible for what happened during the Apartheid. And at the end of the preparation I felt like she was responsible and she needed to be responsible. So for me for not feeling responsible was a huge arch that I had to go through myself as me, Juliette, being French and being aware that Algeria and France had some problems and had I had to go investigate that. So I went to Algeria and met people there and apologized. I needed to do that because I feel sorry.

Q: Did you see a lot of films about Apartheid?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: I watched a lot of tapes, which was unbearable. There were moments that I couldn’t take it anymore. I heard a lot of hearings. Not seeing the faces but hearing the voices- even though it was in different languages you could hear in the voices, the human beings and that was overwhelming. And the perpetrators of course, it’s like a big question mark, how can a human being go that far? And then you have to go and do some research because it doesn’t mean that because you’re from this country you’re evil. Where does it come from? We all have both sides. We’re good and we’re evil too. It’s just a matter of choosing. So I had to investigate the history of what it means to be an Africana. Finally I became aware that in 1920 before when the Africana came that was in the 17th century. They came and they took the land and they were kind of dealing with the different tribes and all that. They were farmers, most of them. And then after that the English came in the 19th century and it was a little bit of a battle but they were agreeing that black people had to be slaves or be in a minor condition. Then they found the gold and the diamonds. Then it became a bad battle because it was all about the greed. And the first concentration camp that happened was in South Africa in the 1920’s and twenty thousand Afrikaans-women and children were put in the concentration camp and were killed. And the farmers, the men, all their farms were burned. They were killed and there was a horrible battle. And so the Afrikaans, they had no jobs. They were living in the poor conditions. They were like the black people that had nothing. So it was a trauma for them because they had once been quite wealthy. They had farms and they also had workers. Then suddenly what happened was when they got the power in 1948, having the power meant a lot to them. That’s where the trouble started because they started putting out laws and the young students were sent to Berlin during the Nazi’s time. And the English students were sent to London. So when they came back home they had a horrific view about being superior and having all the Nazi’s ideas. And they grew up more and more and more. Until they politically arranged all these headquarters that wanted to control and kill the activists.

Q: What attracted you to this part?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: When I read the script I didn’t know about all this. But I was very touched by the story and the arch. And the need of reconcile with oneself. Also, with the unknown. And because we live on a revengeful way of thinking and being. And it’s out of fear, and the concept of Ubuntu (reconciliation), was suddenly wow! It’s a tradition that’s so deep and it became necessary for me to make the movie. So I felt like, why am I an actress? Well it’s to say something. And I’m privileged enough to be able to choose and go for the subject that I feel is necessary for our way of being. And as a white person I feel responsible in saying what I need to say. I am sorry and we need to live on another scale.

Q: Do you think that Anna involves herself in the romance with Langston (Samuel L. Jackson) to vindicate some of her guilt?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: Well for me it’s not a romance. I can’t call it a romance. When you’ve been in a tempest, and the hearings were a tempest of emotions be cause it’s so unbearable. When you go to the inside of the world your like an outside. Cause nobody was going to understand what happened inside. So it’s like being on a boat and you’ve been through hell and you almost died. You go there and you say I’ve been through a terrible tempest. No one is going to understand a tempest. Let’s talk about something else. So for me, it’s about her need of touching this man. The need of loving the difference with the skin. Loving the whole thing is beyond. For me it’s not a romance. It’s a need. It’s a physical need in order to survive. It’s a surviving relationship. It’s not a romance. It’s the only way she could go through it.

Q: Can you tell us about your reconciliation activity with Algeria?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: I had this friend who was doing a documentary about French perpetrators that were working in the French military during the Algerian war. And I went to see this documentary and it was very overwhelming because you can hear the perpetrators, and I was just enraged of course. And there were some journalists there and I did an interview and then a well known director said we’re going to Algeria next week of the 40th birthday of the freedom of Algeria. Do you want to come? You can ask them questions about the war. So we went on this trip. I stayed three days. It wasn’t comfortable because of the bombing and all that is still very present there. I wanted to put myself in the confrontation of it cause when a subject is so contemporary you have to put it on yourself in order to make it be authentic and involved. So for me I felt like well as a French I have to face my past demons.

Q: What was the name of the documentary?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: I can’t remember. The name of the director was Patrick Moffen. It’s a wonderful documentary. And you can see the perpetrators talk about what happened. And it’s the same thing. It’s the same thing. The war that happened in Vietnam or Algeria the way of torturing people is the same everywhere.

Q: Did your concept of being a journalist change as you took on this role?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: Well actually I was playing Antjie Krog, who is a poet. And she needed to be playing the role of a journalist in order for her own country and her own consciousness. So it’s like me be an actress and choosing this movie. You feel responsible for people’s consciousness. Because we cant guess if we don’t go there and take some time to understand and know. When I read the script it was like knowing twenty percent of it. And when you enter the subject it becomes huge. But the journalist has the responsibility of the link between event and event and people.

Q: What was it like working with John Boorman?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: This project was very close to John’s heart. And that’s one of the reason why I wanted to make this movie cause it was so important to him. And he wanted to make this movie for a long time. When you struggle for a movie-this one was difficult to find producers to put money in this project. With John, when we started shooting the first week he would take one take and one angle and I was like “oh my god! I did all this preparation and I can’t explore what I have in me! This is not happening!” I said to my assistant “I give up. Never mind. He does what he wants and I’ll give a shitty performance and I don’t care.” I was so disappointed. And my assistant said to me that I had to talk to John. “You have to take the time and explain that it can’t be like this. You have to have more space.” So I had dinner with him and I said, “John I feel miserable on the movie at the moment. You don’t allow me to do another take. Just the one angle thing and its horrible.” And he said to me “It’s your film I want you to be happy. So ok we start on Monday and you’ll have a second take if you need to.” So we started like that. But during the whole shooting he was not asking me for another take, so I would ask for it. Which is not nice for an actor, you feel like, “can I try another one please?” (Laughs) It feels horrible because you feel like the director wants to pull something out of you and investigate you. So at one point John was near the combo and not even saying “good” but just going straight to the next shot. But towards the end of the shooting it was just beautiful. He would stay side by side by the camera. And he was be the first spectator of it. And it was so moving to me. It would move me so much that he was asking me for another take. I was like “Wow, big step for you, man?” (Laughs) because it was like he wanted more. And I felt like no I’ve done what I think I can do and I can’t go further. And he pushed me and said, “No, lets do another one.” And that’s the take that’s in the movie. I was just taken aback by his demand cause he never demanded from me before.

Q: Did you feel a lot of responsibility on your shoulders with this film more than any of your other films?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: I think this one particularly. Yeah. Because when you go and you see in South Africa you feel like this has to be heard. People have to know about it cause its important.

Q: Do you feel this film has changed you?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: It’s hard to know how you change. But I know that it really touched me. Suddenly being an actress meant something. It meant a lot to me. I felt like I understand why I do this job. I knew before but there it was more meaningful.

Q: Do you feel the same about any of your other movies?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: I just finished a movie on Mary Magdalene with Able Ferrara so it was interesting because Mary Magdalene is not well known.

Q: What’s the name of that film?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: “Mary.”

Q: Do you think amnesty should be given to war criminals?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: Well the sad thing is sometimes the perpetrators I think would say the truth and they knew they were covered but they would not, most of them didn’t feel sorry. And that was the pain of it. That was very painful to see. And how the politics divided themselves suddenly with the perpetrators saying they were asked to do that and it was nobody’s fault and it was horrible to watch.

Q: But spectators did nothing.

A: Well that?s the whole point. You knew somehow but you didn’t want to investigate. That’s the thing. As a white person you’re privileged- you have a car, you have a house, education. Only Afrikaans can go, only English people can go. No black people. Don’t you ask yourself that maybe in this country something is not right? You can’t only blame the political choices or the family choices. You have to question yourself and how you live.

Q: Do you feel that comparing Apartheid to genocides like the Holocaust is valid?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: There was a man who was asked to find chemicals in order to kill black people. And he was paid by the politics in order to find a way to create a chemical genocide. He was trying it out on dogs. People came from different countries to work with him and understand what he was doing. So I think underneath there was an idea of genocide. And this man actually was a doctor. And during the Truth and Reconciliation Trials he went back to the hospital to work as a doctor. And he had trials and trails but they couldn’t put him in jail because there was no proof. It was unbelievable. He’s a well-known guy easy to find. He was a doctor. I can’t remember his name.

Q: Has South Africa changed in ten years?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: Of course it changed, but not enough. When you go to Cape Town you still see the power in the hands that the power was in. and you see town ships of millions living in shacks and horrible conditions. And there’s no school yet and there’s not enough money.

Q: What’s the message you want audiences to come away with from this movie?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: You have to have faith. You have to face what’s uncomfortable in order to grow and become better.

Q: After doing a movie with such high emotion how do you come away from it and relax at the end of the day?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: Well I’ll tell you in the townships they sing they dance they are alive. And that’s the way they survive the horror. And I think for me I have my daughter and my sister’s daughter and we were dancing and singing because you need to live. You can’t stay in the horror. You need to understand the situation, face it and have the courage to go through it. But you have to live and celebrate life. It was painful enough, you don’t want to add more.

Q: Having done this film along with the Mary Magdalene one, does this change the direction of the films that you want to do?

JULIETTE BINOCHE: I don’t know about the future. Even though sometimes I go and see a psychic, they don’t give me the answer. (Laughs)

“In My Country” opens in Limited release on March 11th.