Brendan Gleeson: Col. de Jager

In My Country

Col. de Jager

Col. de Jager: You want to kill me now, don't you? We're all the same. You're just like me.
Langston Whitfield: I would love to kill you.

Langston Whitfield: Look, Mr. de Jager, they've thrown you to wolves. You're going down. Wouldn't you like to take them down with you?
Col. de Jager: [puts his hand on Whitfield's shoulder] Precisely. Say, we have a common purpose. Let us exploit each other, Mr. Whitfield.

Langston Whitfield: Why do you think Apartheid was necessary?
Col. de Jager: It was simple mathematics. Four million of us, Thirty million of them. When you're under constant attack from terrorists, the normal rules of the road don't apply. You have to do what you have to do.
Langston Whitfield: Including torture.
Col. de Jager: Correct. To get information.

Col. de Jager: Make no mistake, there is no greater pain than dishonor. The people at the top walked away from us. We'll get you your amnesty, they said, but, from now on, we know nothing. You're on your own, they said. What's my new rank in the new South Africa, eh? Not Colonel. Perpetrator. Psychopath. Lunatic. I was a professional! I was a hero.

Langston Whitfield: Don't you feel anything for the people you've injured, Colonel? No compassion? No shame?
Col. de Jager: You talk of compassion. I see nothing but hatred in your eyes.

Langston Whitfield: What do you say when you come home? What do you say to your wife when you kiss her hello or pick a kid up, put him on your lap and tell him a bedtime story, huh? What do you say? I had a nice day?
Col. de Jager: You know what you say? You know what you tell yourself after cutting a man's throat? You tell yourself you're saving your country. You're saving your country from a bunch of savages who would fuck your women, kill your children, destroy the country your forebearers created with their blood. You tell yourself, the blacks come out of this country, they'll drive it into the ground like they did all over the rest of Africa. You tell yourself, the blacks need us whites to control them; because, they're not fucking human beings.
Langston Whitfield: This is bull shit! I've heard it all before. There's nothing new here. I wasted my time. Good night, Colonel. Fuck you, very much.