Deborah Kara Unger in Stander (2003)

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Cops can be elevated in the public perception as blue-clad heros immune to human emotions or foibles, but police are people too. The title character of Stander (2003) is based upon a real-life, white South African homicide/robbery captain who embarks upon a bank-robbing crime spree, knocking off as many as four branches a day, then returning to the scenes to lead the investigations into solving the heists. If this type of rogue behavior occurred in Louisiana or Los Angeles, the perpetrator would be reviled as a criminal sociopath blind to the mores of society. Stander, however, turned to larceny as a reaction to his forced participation in the brutal policies of apartheid, and his extracurricular exploits elevate him to folk-hero status.