A World Apart

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.

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.

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.

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.