A World Apart [Blu-ray]

Director: Chris Menges Chris Menges

Overview

Cinematographer Chris Menges' first directorial effort, A World Apart was inspired by the lives of South African journalist Ruth First and her daughter Shawn Slovo (who wrote the film's screenplay). Barbara Hershey plays the fictional counterpart to Ms. First, Diana Roth, with Jodhi May as her daughter. Told from the daughter's viewpoint, the film shows us that Diana and her husband Jeroen Krabbe are so busy with their anti-Apartheid political activism that they totally shut May out of their lives. In 1963, Hershey is arrested by the South African police, becoming the first white woman to be held under the infamous 90-day-detention act. Left despondent and suicidal by two separate arrests and by constant harassment from the police, Diana still won't include her daughter in her life until the girl presses the issue in a climactic confrontation. Some critics felt that Shawn Slovo was using A World Apart to settle unresolved issues in her own life: Ruth First was killed under suspicious circumstances in 1982, without ever reconciling with her daughter.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/07/2023
UPC:	0738329261689
Original Release:	1988
Rating:	PG
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Language:	English
Time:	1:53:00
Sales rank:	34,265

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Barbara Hershey	Diana Roth
Jodhi May	Molly Roth
Jeroen Krabbe	Gus
Yvonne Bryceland	Bertha
David Suchet	Muller
Albee Lesotho	Solomon
Linda Mvusi	Elsie
Tim Roth	Harold
Carolyn Clayton-Cragg	Miriam Roth
Merav Gruer	Jude Roth
Rosalie Crutchley	Mrs. Harris
Mackay Tickey	Milius
Adrian Dunbar	Le Roux
Jack Buckell Band	Actor
Paul Freeman	Kruger
Kate Fitzpatrick	June Abelson
Susie Figgis	Actor
Toby Salaman	Gerald Abelson
Nadine Chalmers	Yvonne Abelson
Jude Akuwidike	Priest
Maria Pilar	Spanish Dance Teacher
Phyllis Naidoo	Saeeda
Clement Muchachi	Sipho
Lovemore Majaivana and the Zulu Band	Actor
Esma Levend	Whitworth
Messias Choir	Actor
Theresa Memela	Peggy
Stephen Williams	Arresting Officer
Henry Mlauzi	Actor
Margaret Hogan	History Teacher
Jo-Anne Huckle	Debbie
Nomaziko Zondo	Thandile
Andre Proctor	Arresting Officer
Andrew Whaley	Interrogating Officer
Cont Mhlanga	Mtutuzeli Nzekwu

Technical Credits

Chris Menges	Director
Tim Bevan	Executive Producer
Graham Bradstreet	Executive Producer
Sarah Radclyffe	Producer

Editorial Reviews

We've seen screen children neglected by parents preoccupied by essentially meaningless jobs or the pursuit of selfish aims (see American Beauty). But cinematographer Chris Menges's impressive debut offers a different take on that dynamic: the price the offspring of political activists pay for their parents' professional devotion. Barbara Hershey, excellent at playing single-minded women, is superb as Diana Roth, and 12-year-old Jodhi May, making her film debut, is a marvel as Molly Roth. (At the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, the actresses shared the Best Actress Award with Linda Mvusi, who plays Elsie, the Roth family maid.) This is mostly a mother-daughter story-Gus (Jeroen Krabbe) the father is not around enough to make an impression--and Diana is sensitive enough to sense the turbulence in her daughter's life. Shawn Slovo's autobiographical script is sympathetic to Molly's dilemma without turning her into a martyr; Molly is just mature enough to understand that the anti-Apartheid cause needs committed people like her parents, but she is after all, a budding adolescent, with all the self-imposed angst that comes with that territory.

All Movie Guide - Tom Wiener