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Cry, the Beloved Country - DVD

SKU: 5170432 | Release Date: 7/1/2003

Rating: PG-13 for Violence, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children

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Rating: PG-13 for Violence, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children
Format: DVD
Theatrical Release: 1995
Length: 106 minutes
Screen Formats: Enhanced Widescreen for 16x9 TV
Genre: General Dramas
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Synopsis

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

Version Details

Languages/Sound

Fre/Eng

Screen Formats

Enhanced Widescreen for 16x9 TV

Additional Features

cc Richard Harris biography Original featurette Nelson Mandela and Hillary Clinton at the world premiere French-language track Dolby Digital Surround Sound Widescreen (1.85:1), enhanced for 16 x 9 televisions

Chapters

Side #1 --
1. A Letter [6:45]
2. Across The Country [5:31]
3. Johannesburg [6:57]
4. CEO Forgive Us [3:41]
5. Justice and Dignity [5:06]
6. Terrible News [5:07]
7. A Long Walk [6:36]
8. Scattered Whereabouts [5:16]
9. The Inheritor of Fear [7:53]
10. My Son [3:27]
11. A Son's Tribute [5:52]
12. I Cry Too Easly [2:09]
13. Not Guilty! [:48]
14. The Heaviest Burden [4:10]
15. Stay Well, My Son [8:38]
16. Firends Of Friends [5:30]
17. Home Again [3:49]
18. The Fifteenth Day [7:29]
19. End Credits [6:11]

Cast

James Earl Jones - Father Stephen Kumalo
Richard Harris - James Jarvis
Greg Latter - Prosecutor
Ian Roberts - Evans
Charles S. Dutton - John Kumalo
Robert Whitehead - Carmichael
Jsepo Gugusha - Gertrude's Child
Leleti Khumalo - Katie
Ian Robers - Reform Official
Eric Miyeni - Absalom Kumalo
Vusi Kunene - Father Msimangu
Dambisa Kente - Gertrude

Crew

Editor: David Heitner
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Producer: Sudhir Pragjee
Director: Darrell J. Roodt
Associate Producer: Helena Spring
Producer: Anant Singh ,Sanjeev Singh ,Harry Alan Towers
Composer (Music Score): John Barry
Production Designer: David Barkham
First Assistant Director: Graham Hichson
Screenwriter: Ronald Harweed
Cinematographer: Paul Gilpin
Costume Designer: Ray Filipo
Casting: Marina VanTonder
Sound/Sound Designer: Richard Sprawson
Director: Darrell James Roodt
Book Author: Alan Paton
Producer: Peter Welbeck
Executive Producer: Harry Alan Towers

Cry, the Beloved Country: AMG Review
Mike Cummings , AMG

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

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Cry, the Beloved Country - DVD

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