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Cry, the Beloved Country | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Darrell Roodt |
Screenplay by | Ronald Harwood Joshua Sinclair |
Based on | Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton |
Produced by | Anant Singh Harry Alan Towers |
Starring | James Earl Jones Richard Harris Charles S. Dutton |
Cinematography | Paul Gilpin |
Edited by | David Heitner |
Music by | John Barry |
Distributed by | Miramax Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 106 minutes |
Countries | South Africa United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $4 million |
Box office | $676,525 (US) (sub-total) |
Cry, the Beloved Country is a 1995 South African-American drama film directed by Darrell Roodt, based on the novel Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. It stars James Earl Jones and Richard Harris.
The film was made in 1995, shortly after the fall of apartheid and the free election of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa.
Set in South Africa in October 1946, before the official implementation of apartheid, this is the story of church minister Stephen Kumalo (James Earl Jones) who is requested from his village to Johannesburg. There he discovers that his son Absalom has been arrested for the murder of a white man. Simultaneously, the white man's father, James Jarvis (Richard Harris), supports apartheid. When Stephen and James meet, they eventually come to unexpected understandings about their sons and their own shared humanity.
Although this is a South African film, the majority of the main characters in the movie are played by Westerners, specifically Americans.
The score was composed by veteran English composer John Barry, who dedicated it to Nelson Mandela. It has been described by film score reviewer Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks.com as "one of Barry's last truly enjoyable efforts." [1] Barry, who had previously composed music for such African-themed films as Zulu (1964), Born Free (1966), and Out of Africa (1985), used predominantly western musical styles in the score, which is notable for referencing themes from Zulu, translating the original warlike compositions into a somber piano theme for travel scenes. [1] [2] The score was performed by the English Chamber Orchestra and recorded in Studio One at the EMI Abbey Road Studios, London.
The film was shot on location in KwaZulu Natal, Cape Province, and at Gauteng, South Africa.
Cry, the Beloved Country received a mostly positive response from critics and holds an 85% "Fresh" rating from the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. [3]
Online critic James Berardinelli gave the film four out of four stars, and described the performances of Harris and Jones as "superb," concluding "Rarely does a motion picture touch the heart so deeply, with no hint of artifice or manipulation." [4] Stephen Holden of The New York Times also wrote favorably of the film, commenting "In a moment as transcendent as it is risky, the screen erupts with a volcanic emotion that cuts through the prevailing high-minded contemplation. Why risky? Because movies have become so invested in the unleashing of violent emotion and the escalation of hostility, that expressions of restraint, reconciliation and forgiveness can easily be read as corny cop-outs. Cry, the Beloved Country is not corny, and it doesn't cop out." [2]
Conversely, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times had a less positive view of the film, giving it only two and half out of four stars, and commenting, "The film has genuine qualities. Its photography and tone evoke a South Africa that is indeed beloved by its inhabitants ('If the climate and the landscape were not so beautiful, we would have had a revolution 50 years ago,' Paton is said to have observed). The performances by Jones and Harris have a quiet dignity, suitable to the characters if not reflecting a larger reality. But the film contains little that would have concerned the South African censors under apartheid. [...] Cry, the Beloved Country reflects a sentimentality that motivates many people, but it fails as a portrait of what it used to be like in South Africa, what happened and what it's like now." [5]
Alan Stewart Paton was a South African writer and anti-apartheid activist. His works include the novels Cry, the Beloved Country (1948), Too Late the Phalarope (1953), and the short story The Waste Land.
Richard St John Francis Harris was an Irish actor and singer. Having studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, he rose to prominence as an icon of the British New Wave. He received numerous accolades including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, and a Grammy Award. In 2020, he was listed at number 3 on The Irish Times's list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
Lost in the Stars is a musical with book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson and music by Kurt Weill, based on the novel Cry, the Beloved Country (1948) by Alan Paton. The musical premiered on Broadway in 1949; it was the composer's last work for the stage before he died the following year.
Lionel Ngakane was a South African filmmaker and actor, who lived in exile in the United Kingdom from the 1950s until 1994, when he returned to South Africa after the end of apartheid. His 1965 film Jemima and Johnny, inspired by the 1958 "race riots" in Notting Hill, London, won awards at the Venice and Rimini film festivals. In the 1960s, Ngakane was a founding member of the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI) and Fespaco, the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO).
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer, with a career in film and television scoring that spanned nearly 50 years and over 200 productions, between 1954 and 2003. He was considered one of film music's most innovative and influential composers. He was nominated for eighteen Academy Awards, six Grammy Awards, five Primetime Emmy Awards, nine Golden Globe Awards, and four British Academy Film Awards.
Cry Freedom is a 1987 epic biographical drama film directed and produced by Richard Attenborough, set in late-1970s apartheid-era South Africa. The screenplay was written by John Briley based on a pair of books by journalist Donald Woods. The film centres on the real-life events involving South African activist Steve Biko and his friend Woods, who initially finds him too radical, and attempts to understand his way of life. Denzel Washington stars as Biko, while Kevin Kline portrays Woods. Penelope Wilton co-stars as Woods' wife Wendy. Cry Freedom delves into the ideas of discrimination, political corruption, and the repercussions of violence.
Cry, the Beloved Country is a 1948 novel by South African writer Alan Paton. Set in the prelude to apartheid in South Africa, it follows a black village priest and a white farmer who must deal with news of a murder.
The Color of Friendship is a 2000 biographical drama television film based on actual events about the friendship between two girls, one from the United States and the other from apartheid South Africa, who learn about tolerance and racism. The film was directed by Kevin Hooks, based on a script by Paris Qualles, and stars Lindsey Haun and Shadia Simmons.
Marco Beltrami is an American composer of film and television scores. He has worked in a number of genres, including horror, action, science fiction, Western, and superhero.
Cry, the Beloved Country is a 1951 British drama film directed by Zoltán Korda and starring Sidney Poitier, Charles Carson and Canada Lee, in his last film role. The film is based on the novel of the same name written by Alan Paton.
Alfred Khumalo, better known as Alf Kumalo, was a South African documentary photographer and photojournalist.
Darrell James Roodt is a South African film director, screenwriter and producer. He is probably most well known for his 1992 film Sarafina! which starred actress Whoopi Goldberg. Roodt has worked with the late Patrick Swayze in Father Hood, James Earl Jones in Cry, the Beloved Country and Ice Cube in Dangerous Ground.
There is a wide range of ways in which people have represented apartheid in popular culture. During (1948–1994) and following the apartheid era in South Africa, apartheid has been referenced in many books, films, and other forms of art and literature.
Boesman and Lena is a small-cast play by South African playwright Athol Fugard, set in the Swartkops mudflats outside of Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. It features a "Coloured" man and woman walking from one shanty town to another, and explores the effect of apartheid on a few individuals.
Lost in the Stars is the 1974 film version of the Kurt Weill-Maxwell Anderson musical adaptation of the Alan Paton novel Cry, the Beloved Country. The film was produced and released as part of the American Film Theatre, which adapted theatrical works for a subscription-driven cinema series.
James Earl Jones was an American actor. A pioneer for black actors in the entertainment industry, he is known for his extensive and acclaimed roles on stage and screen. Jones is one of the few performers to achieve the EGOT. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1985, and was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1992, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2009, and the Academy Honorary Award in 2011.
Graham Armitage was an English stage, film and television actor.