(The 1995 film) Stars: James Earl Jones, Richard Harris. Plot: A rural, black Anglican priest ("The Rev. Kumalo"/Jones) in 1940s apartheid South Africa searches for his son, Absalom, who'd gone to Johannesburg and stopped contacting his family. Kumalo eventually finds Absalom and his pregnant girlfriend--but also that Absalom's being charged with murdering a young white man ("Jarvis") who was very active in helping blacks and opposing apartheid ("apartheid" translation = "aparthood").
The film is based on Alan Paton's VERY influential 1948 novel of the same name (& banned in South Africa for many decades). Paton's book helped foster civil rights changes in the USA as well as the many diplomatic pressures that pressured an end to apartheid (1948-94) in South Africa. "Cry, the Beloved Country" has been published in 20 different languages; 1 Broadway play & 3 films have been based on it. ((For those interested, the cliffsnotes study guide for "Cry the Beloved County" has an excellent, quite succinct (IMO) history (1600-2000) of the dynamics & conflicts of the various ethnicities, races, nationalities, etc., that led to apartheid and its dissolution: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/cry-beloved- country.html))
Paton was a devout Anglican (AKA Episcopalian in the USA) South African who strongly opposed apartheid as did a number of other South African people and denominations (e.g., Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, etc.; but altogether, these denominations were a political minority).
While the film narrative closely follows Paton's book, for some (IMO), it will be more interesting as a glimpse back at those times rather than as a highly interesting story apart on its own.
The plot is essentially a modern day morality play in which 2 major protagonists: the black Rev. Kumalo represents conflicts of Christian ideals and human feelings vs. the wealthy white landowner's, Jarvis's father (Harris), desire to preserve apartheid ("aparthood"=segregation) but with his own conflicts. A significant, slightly lesser figure is the Rev. Kumalo's brother who takes a political, NON-religious stance (opposed to his brother's faith-based position) exhorting blacks to oppose & subvert privileged whites who keep blacks permanently disenfranchised and in extremely inferior status.
Paton's book also served as the basis for Kurt Weill's & Maxwell Anderson's Broadway musical "Lost in the Stars" (it ran 1949-50; '58; '72; I saw it & loved it). The stage musical simplifies the novel's plot but adds Weill's great music and Anderson's great dialog while staying very true to Paton's book.
((There's also a 1974 AFT film "version" of this musical. It's not so much like traditional Hollywood musicals in which narrative actions pause for singing since, in this, the songs seem so integral to the narrative's development. And SOME emotional interactions are more intense (IMO) than in the '95 "Cry, the Beloved Country" film. BUT in this musical film version--inexplicably, sadly--the concluding emotional reconciliation between the two fathers who lost their sons (in the book, the stage version, and this film) is quite diminished and almost totally absent.))
Paton's book (& its derived Broadway musical) helped provide impetus for American civil rights marches (1950s-60s) in which many other Episcopalian college students & I participated--so seeing this film brought back many stirring and fond memories.
My ratings: 10 (of 10) for its representation of this era's events and the book but 7 (of 10) for entertainment.
The film is based on Alan Paton's VERY influential 1948 novel of the same name (& banned in South Africa for many decades). Paton's book helped foster civil rights changes in the USA as well as the many diplomatic pressures that pressured an end to apartheid (1948-94) in South Africa. "Cry, the Beloved Country" has been published in 20 different languages; 1 Broadway play & 3 films have been based on it. ((For those interested, the cliffsnotes study guide for "Cry the Beloved County" has an excellent, quite succinct (IMO) history (1600-2000) of the dynamics & conflicts of the various ethnicities, races, nationalities, etc., that led to apartheid and its dissolution: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/cry-beloved- country.html))
Paton was a devout Anglican (AKA Episcopalian in the USA) South African who strongly opposed apartheid as did a number of other South African people and denominations (e.g., Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, etc.; but altogether, these denominations were a political minority).
While the film narrative closely follows Paton's book, for some (IMO), it will be more interesting as a glimpse back at those times rather than as a highly interesting story apart on its own.
The plot is essentially a modern day morality play in which 2 major protagonists: the black Rev. Kumalo represents conflicts of Christian ideals and human feelings vs. the wealthy white landowner's, Jarvis's father (Harris), desire to preserve apartheid ("aparthood"=segregation) but with his own conflicts. A significant, slightly lesser figure is the Rev. Kumalo's brother who takes a political, NON-religious stance (opposed to his brother's faith-based position) exhorting blacks to oppose & subvert privileged whites who keep blacks permanently disenfranchised and in extremely inferior status.
Paton's book also served as the basis for Kurt Weill's & Maxwell Anderson's Broadway musical "Lost in the Stars" (it ran 1949-50; '58; '72; I saw it & loved it). The stage musical simplifies the novel's plot but adds Weill's great music and Anderson's great dialog while staying very true to Paton's book.
((There's also a 1974 AFT film "version" of this musical. It's not so much like traditional Hollywood musicals in which narrative actions pause for singing since, in this, the songs seem so integral to the narrative's development. And SOME emotional interactions are more intense (IMO) than in the '95 "Cry, the Beloved Country" film. BUT in this musical film version--inexplicably, sadly--the concluding emotional reconciliation between the two fathers who lost their sons (in the book, the stage version, and this film) is quite diminished and almost totally absent.))
Paton's book (& its derived Broadway musical) helped provide impetus for American civil rights marches (1950s-60s) in which many other Episcopalian college students & I participated--so seeing this film brought back many stirring and fond memories.
My ratings: 10 (of 10) for its representation of this era's events and the book but 7 (of 10) for entertainment.