Escape from Pretoria

 

Escape from Pretoria 2020

• Director: Ruben Fleischer
• Based on the book by Tim Jenkin
• Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Daniel Webber, Ian Hurt, Mark Leonard Winter
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:

o   Daniel Radcliffe – Imperium, Victor Frankenstein, What If?, The Woman in Black, Harry Potter x 8, December Boys, Extras, David Copperfield

o   Ian Hart – Tristram Shandy, Finding Neverland, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Born Romantic, Longitude, The Butcher Boy, Michael Collins, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain, Land and Freedom

o   Mark Leonard Winter – Top of the Lake

·       Why? Daniel Radcliffe

• Seen: 20 February 2021.

       Despite their privileged white upbringing in Apartheid South Africa, Tim (Radcliffe) and Steve (Webber) are involved in the ANC movement. They are caught spreading flyers and sentenced to ten years in Pretoria prison together with other political prisoners.

       Tim, Steve and fellow prisoner Leonard (Winter) are determined to escape though they’re told it’s impossible. They refuse to listen and spend months preparing. There are a lot of keys involved.

       It’s not your usual great escape thriller but more a slow and suspenseful film about clever carpentry, attention to the tiniest details and meticulous trial runs.

       If it became painfully exciting to watch as a film, imagine what they went through. It’s based on a true story, so we’ve got to believe it.

  5* of 5

 PS Those who gave it low ratings on IMDb seemed to either be defenders of the Apartheid system or objectors to the use of non-South African actors.