Flucht aus Pretoria

It was the 1970s and apartheid was still being strictly enforced in S. Africa. A small band of anti-apartheid white men were working to change that and one way was to plant "bombs" on the streets that would shoot hundreds of leaflets into the air because it was illegal to openly campaign for the cause. The bombs didn't hurt anyone, still two of them were arrested and sent to a highly secure prison in Pretoria, one for 8 years the other for 12 years.

Daniel Radcliffe plays one of them, Tim Jenkin who was sentenced to 12 years and who wrote the book upon which this movie is based. Jenkin himself makes a short cameo appearance in the movie and discusses all this in an "extra" on the DVD.

So the title tells us the outcome, over about a 13 month period, the movie about how they did it is even more interesting than I had expected. The way each cell is are locked there is an inside door with bars and sandwiched to it is a solid steel door that opens to the hallway. Plus there are another dozen or so locked doors between the cell and freedom. Plus not all of them take the same key. Highly secure, realistically no way for a prisoner to escape ... or so they thought. Think keys made of wood.

I watched this at home on DVD from my public library, my wife started but it got too slow for her and she abandoned it. I find it a very good movie of a historically significant story, Radcliffe is very believable in the role as Jenkin.

Why people are giving low rate to all the latest films that Daniel Radcliffe have been shot. I like this movie, its not boring at all. The plot is very interesting, the soundtrack chosen very good. actors played their role perfectly. I don't know what else people want from the movie !!!

"Escape from Pretoria" will never win any Oscars but this heartfelt, social-conscious thriller, based on a true story and set in a South Africa under Apartheid, is a lot better than I thought it was going to be. As the title tells us, it's an escape movie, (obviously), and by their very nature, escape movies usually make for good thrillers and this is no exception. It's very exciting while not afraid to show the horrors of the South African prison system at the same time.

Daniel Radcliffe and Daniel Webber are the two young white members of the ANC imprisoned for distributing anti-government propoganda and Francis Annan's film is about how they escaped from Pretoria Prison. Ian Hart and Mark Leonard Winter are other prisoners in on the plan. It's a very compact little movie though it's unlikely to cause Bresson's "A Man Escaped", "The Shawshank Redemption" or "Papillion" cause for concern. That said, this is still edge-of-the-seat stuff, very skillfully done, and the performances throughout are first-rate. In the end, you might just say, it does what it says on the tin.

In 1978, Tim Jenkin (Daniel Radcliffe) and Stephen Lee (Daniel Webber) are two white members of the ANC setting off harmless pamphlet bombs. They get arrested and imprisoned with other white political prisoners. They are agitating to escape but longtime respected political prisoner Denis Goldberg (Ian Hart) counsels against it. French prisoner Leonard Fontaine (Mark Leonard Winter) is not like Goldberg.

It needs more about their work and their struggle before prison. It also needs more after the escape. The prison and the escape is well done. It has a very good tick-tick of their escape plan. It has very good bones but the body around it is a little scrawny.

Had I seen the IMDB rating I might not have watched it but am pleased I did. This production kept me engaged throughout bringing dramatic tension even to bubblegum on the ens of a stick! Particularly if you knew the consequences awaiting the protagonists if they failed. Perhaps the appalling situation could have been more graphically set up but as a prison break movie it works well but not if you want the graphic violence that so many filmmakers resort to for tension. Ignore the negatives & watch it