Benutzerrezensionen

The first dramatic feature directed by Oscar-winning cinematographer Chris Menges tackles the injustices of Apartheid, without trivializing the issues or compromising the dramatic integrity of its script. Instead of adopting a gratuitous high moral tone, Menges concentrates first on telling a good story, following the growth to maturity of an adolescent (white) girl, already racially color blind, who feels neglected by her journalist/activist mother. The film might be criticized for once again using white protagonists to educate audiences about the black experience in South Africa, but it's a hollow complaint: writer Shawn Slovo based her script on personal experience, and the depth of its detail reflects her crystal-clear memories of growing up in Johannesburg during the early 1960s.

That the film succeeds more on a personal level in no way diminishes its political message, which unlike other anti-Apartheid dramas is never force-fed in condescending spoonfuls ("I know that already; stop treating me like a baby!" cries the frustrated young heroine after yet another lecture from mom). No easy solutions are offered, and the film ends in just another riot, suggesting with cautious optimism the hope for ultimate victory after what promises to be a long and difficult struggle.

This is a very good film with outstanding performances, particularly from Jodhi May and Barbara Hershey. The story of the Slovo-First family is very compelling and deserving of this fine treatment. As someone who has spent time in South Africa, both during and after Apartheid, I can attest to its authenticity.

The film works best, however, as a portrait of a troubled family. It carefully and truthfully depicts the agony of an adolescent girl who knows that her parents are trying to change her world for the better but at the expense of a normal life for her and her siblings. As Gillian Slovo so accurately stated, 'Here we were going off to Girl Guides while our parents were advocating the violent overthrow of our country's government.'

This film makes a powerful and moving, yet personal statement.

I saw this film in 1988 when it first came out. I was looking forward to seeing it on DVD but I must confess I was very disappointed. I found it excessively slow, with few dialogues, and in fact, plain boring. It should be at least 1/2 hr shorter.

True, there are moments of real poignancy in "A world apart" and Jodhi May is an excellent actress but there just doesn't seem to be much going on for most of half the film. Maybe the fact that apartheid has been defeated and that so much has happened in S. Africa since makes it less momentous.

For anyone interested in S. Africa, I recommend watching "Cry Freedom", "A white dry season" or even "The power of one" instead. These films at least seek to explain their characters involvement with the anti-apartheid movement. In "A world apart", there's no such character growth so far as the mother is concerned. Her involvement has to be taken for granted.

Apartheid was just beginning to face its end in 1988 as this movie was being made, but it was still a few years away from disappearing completely. This movie is set in the 1960's - a time when apartheid was still enforced ruthlessly, and "A World Apart" gives us the story of a white but anti-apartheid family struggling against the regime. The story is shown largely through the eyes of Molly Roth (played by Jodhi May) - a 13 year old girl. As the movie begins her father is leaving South Africa to avoid arrest as a communist. Meanwhile, her mother is an anti-apartheid journalist. Molly finds herself increasingly ostracized by many of her white friends and their families because of her family's political views, and her mother is arrested by the government under a law that allowed for people to be held for 90 days without being charged so that they could be interrogated. The movie certainly makes the point that apartheid and the white regime were inhumane and brutal. It also - to me - made the point that apartheid sowed the seeds of its own destruction. Because of its ruthlessness, rather than stamping out opposition by frightening its opponents, it enraged them and emboldened them and ensured that there would be an ever increasing number of recruits for the anti- apartheid movement, a point made (I thought) by Molly's raised fist in a gesture of defiance in one of the last scenes of the movie.

In this movie, the central family is the Roth family - Gus and Diana and their children, most importantly Molly. In fact, the movie is really based on the story of Ruth First, who was the wife of South African Communist leader Joe Slovo. First did, indeed, find herself arrested under the 90 days law and actually served almost 120 days before being released. She was assassinated in the early 1980's, and this movie serves as a tribute to her, and was actually written by Shawn Slovo, Joe and Ruth's daughter. I found myself wondering if the title might be referring to Molly's (or Shawn's) experience of being in a world of her own - not completely fitting in with the black world even though she was a supporter of their cause, and obviously not fitting in with the white world, most of whom regarded her and her family with a mix of contempt and suspicion.

As apartheid movies go, this was somewhat unique in trying to tell the story through white eyes. To me, though, it didn't really succeed. While the regime (shown through its police and security forces) was ominous and ever-present, the movie seemed to lack intensity and treated the subject a little bit lightly. It's interesting, but to me it seemed to miss the mark. (6/10)

If this is indicative of things to come, Jodhi May will be one strong actress to reckon with. Barbara Hershey has never been better, but Jodhi May steals the show as her neglected daughter struggling with terms of identity and growth in South Africa pre-Apartheid. This one is truly a gem. I highly recommend seeing it at any opportunity. I have a copy of it I taped off the television years and years ago. I'm hoping one day it is released on DVD.

Had the same problem with this film about Apartheid that I had with "Mississippi Burning". Namely, if you want to make a movie about racism toward black people then you had best have the black characters in it be something more than mere supporting players. It is, frankly, offensive to watch groups of Africans discriminated against, beaten and oppressed without getting to know any one African individual beyond the superficial (i.e. He likes Chubby Checker or she's a really friendly maid). And to the objection that I imagine director Chris Menges and writer Shawn Slovo would make that this is, in essence, a mother/daughter story I would reply that the conflict between Diana Roth and her daughter is soft peddled and muted in favor of the anti Apartheid theme to the point of non existence so that when they do have their big dramatic confrontation it is neither big nor dramatic but comes across as too little, too late.

Good Barbara Hershey take, though, on the revolutionary as saint, if less than exemplary mom. Hershey's a really good actor whose personal life has been allowed somewhat to eclipse her talent.

Bottom line: Check out the much better "Dry White Season", made a year later, for how this story should be told (and how to integrate African stories with Caucasian). C plus.

Like "Cry Freedom" the previous year, "A World Apart" shows life in apartheid-era South Africa. This one tells the story of the Slovo family, who were trying to bring down apartheid (the names are changed in the movie). The father has had to flee the country after threats against him. The daughter (Jodhi May) is bullied in school, where her classmates call her father a "traitor". Finally, the mother (Barbara Hershey) is arrested. The daughter then truly begins to see the oppressive system through the eyes of the black population.

The whole story resembles that of the Rosenberg children, right down to the fate of the parents (Mrs. Slovo was assassinated in 1982). And it is so horrible to think that this vile agenda was in power for over forty years. There may be some things in life that we will never be able to get over.

An important and recurring film trend in the 1980's was to deal with the apartheid in South Africa, which brought to the world a deep understanding of what the British were doing in that nation with their racial politics of segregation. The world got deeply involved with that, protested in every possible way and when the 1990's came, it was all over, South Africa was free again even though it took some time to reach peace and to develop politics for blacks and whites. The film trend had films like "Cry Freedom", "A Dry White Season" and this one directed by Chris Menges, best known as cinematographer of many classics. What makes "A World Apart" to differ from those besides the quality (the mentioned films are far better) is that it's a story that seemed designed to educate younger audiences about the apartheid reality. Commendable initiative but the ambition is so big that the movie falls short of accomplish something with such difficult task.

In the 1960's Johannesburg, the 13 year-old Molly (Jodhi May) tries to understand the world around her, a world of segregation where whites have everything and blacks don't have anything but following the racist laws created by the British where rights are denied, no public meetings are allowed, protests are deemed illegal and people are sent to jail to long sentences or die in suspicious circumstances. Those facts hit her closely when her father (Jeroen Krabbé) leaves the house to never return and her dedicated mother (Barbara Hershey) is arrested under a new law that allowed authorities to sent suspect people to jail for a 90-day period without trial. Molly's parents are leftist journalists who support the black South Africans in their quest for freedom and social rights. What follows is Molly's perspectives about this harsh reality as a young girl growing up, having to face life without the presence of her parents, taking care of her younger sisters, without any help from her friends who turned away from her when they heard about the mother's politics and imprisonment.

The film is good. The idea, though lacking and confusing, makes the film something worth seeing and almost important. However, Shawn Slovo's screenplay isn't all that great and neither deserving of the many accolades it received (a Bafta win included). I thought everything was taken too lightly, tension is built then fades away. Little is known about the activism of Molly's parents and Jeroen as the father has only one scene and we never get the chance to know why he was so important to the cause, and what really happened to him. It's the kind of script that ends up treating its adult audience as children, and if the concept was schemed to bring kids to it, then it failed a lot cause they don't offer a background neither a summary to the events taking place in South Africa and they'll feel lost.

Gladly, some scenes are very convincing, there's a good drama that sometimes unfolds with some bumps, those happen more because of the acting than the script itself. I know a lot of people are head over heels Jodhi as Molly but I frankly thought it was one of the strangest performances I've seen in a child actor. In quiet/moderate scenes she owns the role, and you cheers for her character, always wanting to see her overcome the obstacles life thrown at her. But when it's time to break down, cry and yell, or act different than her sweet almost naive way, she felt so forced, so over-the-top I couldn't relate with the girl anymore. Yes, Molly is supposed to be spoiled and ungrateful towards her caring mother (she truly believes she can change the world around her, to the point of enduring all those days in prison) but the sentimentalism she brings with that, just make her intolerable. Barbara Hershey carries the film in a good way, too bad the movie wasn't focused directly on her. Tim Roth's role is brief but it's a class act; David Suchet always deserves credit whenever he plays a villain, it's a subtle bad guy who appears to be good.

Can I say the movie is positive for the cause of education? Yes, I can. But if you really can show to your children the films I mentioned earlier, then move on with the history books, documentaries or even "Invictus", this one more contemporary. 7/10

Jodhi May deserved an Oscar for her work. All told, this is one of the finest coming-of-age stories I've ever seen filmed. And its ending is one of the saddest and most powerful ever - alongside "At Play in the Fields of the Lord."

I saw this film years ago, and some of it's scenes still haunts me. The story is set in South Africa and it's about a family which will be eventually destroyed by the problems there. The then very young Jothi May it quiet impressive in her debut and Barbara Hershey is equally good.

Jodhi May doesn't pay attention to what's going on about her in South Africa. That is, until her father, Jeroen Krabbe, flees the country, labeled a communist traitor, her mother, Barbara Hershey, is thrown into prison, and the girls at her private school start tormenting her.

It's one of several movies about the impact of South African apartheid in the late 1980s, but this one is a bit different. Instead of being centered more on the struggle itself, Miss May, the viewpoint character, is more an unwilling witness to the fact that while it's nice to be well-to-do, not everyone can blithely accept that, especially the disenfranchised and those with a sense of justice. The performances are excellent, but even though Miss May's journey from an easy childhood to a committed adulthood is a difficult one, it hardly raises my sympathy, as it clearly is meant to.

A World Apart (1988) was directed by Chris Menges. The script was written by Shawn Slovo, daughter of anti-apartheid activist Ruth First, who--as Diana Roth--is the protagonist of the film.

Barbara Hershey portrays Diana Roth, who is a white journalist working against apartheid. Her husband is a wanted man, who has escaped to a unknown location. Roth is raising her three children as a single parent.

Barbara Hershey plays her role brilliantly, as does Linda Mvusi as the African maid, Elsie.

Still, I think the acting honors go to Jodhi May as Roth's daughter, Molly Roth. This is a coming of age movie for Molly, who is well accepted by her white friends, until her father escapes and her mother is arrested.

May was 12 when the movie was produced. She remains the youngest person to win the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress. (She shared the award with Hershey and Mvusi.)

The film is set in 1968, just as the infamous 90-day detention law was going into effect. That law made it legal for the police to hold people--without charge--for 90 days. During this time, they were "interrogated." This frequently included torture, especially for blacks.

This movie is actually a docudrama. Ruth First was the first white woman held in prison under the new law. Her time in prison is vividly portrayed in the movie. You don't want to be in that prison under interrogation for nine minutes, let alone 90 days.

I thought this was an extraordinary movie. Remember that it was produced in 1988. This was 20 years beyond the time in which the movie is set, but still before anyone could know that apartheid would end. (Apartheid didn't end until 1994.)

This movie has a weak IMDb rating of 6.9. This is a case where I say, "Did the raters see the same movie that I saw?" This is a great movie. I highly recommend it, and rated it 10.

P.S. Watch for David Suchet as Muller, a high-ranking police official. He may really care about Roth, or he might just be playing "good cop." It's hard to know where he fits, but it's easy to know that he's a fine actor.

I enjoyed the movie tremendously.. In America, in Florida, especially apartheid is strong movement in every aspect of living.. It is strong in choices of housing,church,employment,even chosing your mate..I have felt the hate of apartheid even in my own family, because I had a handicap and health problems, and was mistreated as a slave for 30 years until now I am labeled as mentally ill but I feel like a POW, a political prisoner for standing up for my own unique, individual and individual beliefs that all human beings should be treated with dignity, respect and have a right to employment with a descent wage and a right to be free of torture or torment or abuse for differing from the community or world society or whoever makes the big decisions in the world about who is considered a human being which is usually someone who is bad and one who believes in hate and control rather than freedom and love and light.. I myself feel and live like Diana Roth over here even though the label on me is mentally ill.. I know hate and lived with it even in my own mother's womb and have tasted it in the air here in america ever since I landed in this country.. God's love only helped me survived this cruel, inhumane and hateful society against people who stand for truth, honest, and goodness.and most of all love for all people..not some...

Damn those Dutch were the worst. Not too long after Hitler too... Those were frightening times to advocate for equality and liberty in the colonies. I'm always amazed at the existence and persistence of such people. Must of us would just put our heads down and survive. Thank god for them.

I did get bored at some point after the middle though, I'm ashamed to admit it, but it did happen. And I was wondering what they were living on with no apparent sources of income. But it's a very good biographical movie with a lot of heart and authenticity to it and Jodhi May shines. I wish Tim Roth had more to do in this though, apart from a few lines and being almost an extra in the other scenes.