Here's a First Look at 'The Forgiven,' Starring Forest Whitaker as Archbishop Desmond Tutu

On March 9, we'll get to see Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker transform into an African great and anti-apartheid activist—Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Directed by Roland Joffé (The Killing Fields, The Mission) and alongside Eric Bana, The Forgiven is an intense thriller based on the real events from South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission—a restorative justice body that was assembled in 1996, after the abolition of apartheid just two years prior.

Here's the synopsis:

In 'The Forgiven,' when Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Forest Whitaker) is appointed to head a nationwide investigation, he's summoned to a maximum-security prison by a notorious murderer seeking clemency (Eric Bana). Inside the brutal prison walls, Tutu is drawn into a dangerous, life-changing battle with the cunning criminal.

Watch the clip below.

Archbishop Tutu says in a statement that this film comes just at the right time.

"This timely, compelling and intelligent film, movingly, and above all humanely, captures what it felt like to be working with those selfless members of the TRC who strove, often against the odds, to help bring both truth and reconciliation to the ordinary people of South Africa," Tutu says. "The film is a tribute to the remarkable and healing power of forgiveness and the outstanding compassion and courage of those who offered love and forgiveness as an antidote to hate and inhumanity. This is not only a film about a certain time and place, it is a pean of hope to humanity at large."

The Forgiven is presented by Saban Films; produced by Joffé alongside Link Entertainment's Craig Baumgarten and Zaheer Goodman-Bhyat of Light and Dark Films, with financing being provided by The Fyzz Facility. Executive producers include Kim Ashton, Wayne Marc Godfrey, Robert Jones, John R. Sherman, Tannaz Anisi, Greg Schenz, Jeff Gum, Jeff Rice and Lee Broda.