Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Better Late Then Never

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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.

Told from the point of view of an adolescent girl whose parents are active in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa in the 1960s. She's left in the dark about her parents' activities, as is the viewer, mostly. The performances are good and the depiction of whites during this time ranges from sympathetic and helpful to willful ignorance to outright hostility. Still, the story is mostly Molly's. While there's nothing wrong with this, it's still a mostly white point of view of apartheid.Spoiler ahead:There is a character who is killed, and while it is intended to be a cathartic final moment, the viewer, like Molly, is very much apart from the event, not in it. There's something rather willfully ignorant about filming an anti-apartheid movie from a white point of view. I know that there were whites helping during this time period, but all of the whites in this movie are so sanctimonious and the blacks so saintly and good, that I found the movie rather hard to take.

I'm told that there are some cultures which regard living through interesting times as a curse. What would happen to drama if times were uninteresting. Meet Molly Roth (Jodhi May). She's a normal teenager in a regimented society. It's 1963 in South Africa. Her parents are involved in the anti-apartheid cause. Her father flees the country. The police pick up her mother.It is a partially valid criticism offered by another commentator that the film does not explain why the Roths oppose apartheid. Yet A World Apart entirely approaches the weighty issues from 13 year old Molly Roth's perspective. There are limitations in the view of a 13 year old born into an existing system. Yet the film graphically presents valid reasons. Before Molly must witness her mother's arrest, she watches from her friend's mother's car as no one rush up to aid the victim of a hit and run driver and as the police take no interest in pursuing the offender.The film is superior in the mid 1960s costumes, hair styles, downtown areas in English speaking cities, and automobiles.David Suchet renders a bravura performance as the vicious police detective Muller. He would play a similar part as the KGB Agent in The Falcon and The Snow Man.

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.