Terra amata

This film brings to life the lives of a black, country priest and a white wealthy landowner in South Africa in the 1940's.

Religion, politics, faith, healing, mercy and justice- all of these themes are present, but not in an overt, overbearing patronising way.

The two men meet due to unfortunate circumstances related to the activity of their respective sons' in the city, though they have lived in the same country area all of their lives.

This is a wonderful movie, based on the famous book. It features excellent camera work, which took full advantage of the beautiful scenery in the South African countryside. It also features an exceptional score by John Barry. In addition, the performances were quite good, although I've heard some people say they thought that James Earl Jones made Rev Kumalo too "soft around the edges". In any case, this is a quite good movie.

Came to write this review because the recent hoopla around the Black Panther movie made me think of this. Our society truly is clueless when a superhero movie that isn't even a "movement" or even about Africa gets a vaulted review over gems like this. This movie here has depth, emotion, substance, heart and power behind it. All things that Black Panther does not have. One of my most favorite movies of all time and one of my go-to's when I talk about powerful movies.

As a Student taking my English proficiency exams I was obliged to read the novel by Alan Paton. As an African born every title related to this land appeals to me. The film is a good translation of the book, nevertheless I liked the book more than the film. James Earl Jones was a good choice to play Rev. Stephen Kumalo an in the whole it matched my imagery of the novel and the apartheid policy in South Africa. The center of the drama is very well transcript to the screen:The holy black man´s son who kills the mighty white man´s son,in the sinful city far away from the origins in the peacefull countryside where the black people, however already threatened by the apartheid brought from the urban centers, are still respected and free to have their ownn choices and ideals.

I've seen this movie twice and I absolutely love it! I think it's highly underrated with the average of 6.4 from the imdb voters.

This is a movie about black and white. A welknown theme in Hollywood, but I've never seen a movie which deals with this subject so excellent as this one.

I couldn't help crying at the end.

my rate: 10