Main Cast: James Earl Jones, Richard Harris, Vusi Kunene, Leleti Khumalo, Charles S. Dutton
Release Year: 1995
Country: US
Run Time: 111 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Alan Paton's classic novel about two fathers coming to terms with personal loss and the emotional scars inflicted on South Africa during the era of apartheid was brought to the screen for a second time with this adaptation, the first major film produced in South Africa after Nelson Mandela's election ended mandatory white rule in that nation. Rev. Stephen Kumalo (James Earl Jones) is a minister from a poverty-stricken farming community who travels to Johannesburg for the first time in search of his son Absalom (Eric Miyeni), who moved to the city some time back and has gone missing. Kumalo regards the big city as a den of iniquity, and his low expectations are not betrayed; he is robbed and beaten shortly after he arrives, and when he visits his brother John (Charles S. Dutton), he discovers that Absalom has become a petty thief with a pregnant girlfriend, his sister Gertrude (Dambisa Kente) is a prostitute, and John has renounced his faith in God and advocates the violent overthrow of South Africa's white leadership. James Jarvis (Richard Harris) -- a wealthy white landowner from the same part of the country as Kumalo -- has also arrived in Johannesburg, also with sad personal business to attend to; his son, a well-liked activist for the rights of the city's black majority population, was killed during a robbery. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Moving performances by James Earl Jones and Richard Harris highlight this tale of racial discord in South Africa in 1946. The plot centers on two men -- James Jarvis (Harris), a wealthy white landowner, and Stephen Kumalo (Jones), a humble black minister -- who cross the separatist divide to confront each other after fear and mistrust cause Kumalo's son to kill Jarvis' son. Although the plot resorts to contrivances to help drive the action, the film delivers a message of hope as relevant today as it was in 1948, the year that Alan Paton (1903-1988) published the novel on which the film is based. Jones and Harris are equally brilliant in portraying men upon whom fate inflicts terrible tragedy. At times, Jones' character -- an earnest, upright Anglican pastor in the impoverished village of Ixopo -- becomes the biblical Job, abiding one seemingly intolerable setback after another as he attempts to reunite his family on a trip to Johannesburg, and Jones plays the role with great power and sensitivity. The film falters badly, though, when it asks viewers to believe that Jarvis, a confirmed separatist, can miraculously reform overnight after reading a letter written by his idealistic son before he died. The letter laments the injustice of separatism and the hypocrisy of whites who espouse Christianity but deny justice to their black neighbors. Not even Harris' intelligent performance can make Jarvis' instant rehabilitation believable. Still, the film has dignity and character, enhanced by good cinematography and a satisfactory John Barry music score. The ending of the film, when Kumalo climbs into the mountains to meet God and pray for his son, is particularly touching. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
Eric Miyeni - Absalom Kumalo; Jsepo Gugusha - Gertrude's Child; Ian Roberts - Evans; Robert Whitehead - Carmichael; Greg Latter - Prosecutor; Dambisa Kente - Gertrude; Ian Robers - Reform Official
Credit
Helena Spring - Associate Producer, Marina VanTonder - Casting, Ray Filipo - Costume Designer, Graham Hichson - First Assistant Director, Darrell James Roodt - Director, David Heitner - Editor, Harry Alan Towers - Executive Producer, John Barry - Composer (Music Score), David Barkham - Production Designer, Paul Gilpin - Cinematographer, Sudhir Pragjee - Producer, Anant Singh - Producer, Sanjeev Singh - Producer, Richard Sprawson - Sound/Sound Designer, Ronald Harwood - Screenwriter, Ronald Harweed - Screenwriter, Alan Paton - Book Author
