BERRY'S GLEAMING LAST FLICK.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

South Africa's apartheid lurks in the background of Athol Fugard's 1970 work, ``Boesman and Lena,'' but the play is as much about the psychology of personal oppression as it is political tyranny. Now brought to the big screen in a shimmering adaptation by John Berry, ``Boesman and Lena'' has lost none of its power to disturb, even if the play's stage-bound constrictions limit its effectiveness as a film.

``Boesman and Lena'' stands as an appropriate last work for Berry, who died shortly before the movie was finished. A survivor of the Hollywood blacklist, Berry was, in Fugard's words, ``a man who had a burning sense of injustice.'' That is much evident in the New York-born director's work, which included productions of Richard Wright's ``Native Son'' and early stagings of Fugard's ``The Blood Knot'' and ``Boesman and Lena.''

Berry's affinity for the material is clear. If anything, he might be a little too enamored of the playwright's words. Fugard's plays often have a long-windedness to them, which works better with the immediacy of theater. Here on the screen, however, the discursive speeches have a habit of vanishing into the long, black night.

That's certainly not the fault of the two leads, Angela Bassett and Danny Glover, remarkable actors who tap into their characters' deep wells of pain. We first see the film's title characters in a black-and-white opening flashback as they watch bulldozers plow through their shantytown home. This puts Boesman (Glover) and Lena (Bassett) on the road once again, and they return to a desolate Cape Town mud flat, where, during one cold night, most of the movie's action takes place.

``Boesman and Lena'' is a meditation on the couple's past, as Lena struggles to figure out where she has been and why her life has come to such desolation. Boesman wants nothing to do with her recollections - they wound his pride and only add to the bitter frustration he feels about his life. When an ailing old man (Willie Jonah) happens upon their camp, Lena embraces him as a witness to her life's existence and importance. The old man's presence alters the dynamic between Boesman and Lena, and leads to a series of painful and often violent confrontations.

Berry's adaptation adds flashback scenes that show Boesman and Lena in happier times when they were content, radiant and hopeful. When the film returns to the present, the couple's drab despair seems all the more heartbreaking, their loneliness the result of a political system that fosters alienation. That system might be gone, but the estrangement remains. At its best, ``Boesman and Lena'' shows that the human spirit can survive that and a host of other indignities.

``BOESMAN AND LENA''

(Not rated: contains some language and adult themes)

The stars: Danny Glover and Angela Bassett.

Behind the scenes: Adapted and directed by John Berry. Based on the play by Athol Fugard. Released by Kino International.

Running time: One hour, 28 minutes.

Playing: Laemmle's Colorado Theater in Pasadena; Laemmle's Music Hall in Beverly Hill.

Our rating: Three stars

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Angela Bassett and Danny Glover star in a story about South Africa's apartheid in the film version of ``Boesman and Lena.''