Proteus

In 1725, two young men meet while working in the prison garden of Robben Island, Cape Town’s penal colony. Claas Blank is a quick-witted Khoisan convict, determined to escape at any cost. Rijkhaart Jacobsz is a soft-spoken Dutch sailor serving time for sodomy. Despite the prohibition of vast racial and cultural taboos, they embark on a tentative affair that neither has words for. Their furtive relationship is witnessed by Virgil Niven, a Scottish botanist who runs the prison garden. This strange triangle of fascination and repression continues for 10 years, ignored by the prison authorities, until Niven returns to the Cape Town and inadvertently brings about their downfall.