| A World Apart | |
|---|---|
![]() A World Apart (Video Cover) |
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| Directed by | Chris Menges |
| Produced by | Sarah Radclyffe |
| Written by | Shawn Slovo |
| Starring | Jodhi May Barbara Hershey Jeroen Krabbe Tim Roth David Suchet |
| Music by | Hans Zimmer |
| Cinematography | Peter Biziou |
| Editing by | Nicholas Gaster |
| Distributed by | Atlantic Releasing Corporation |
| Release date(s) | June 17, 1988 |
| Running time | 113 min. |
| Country | UK / Zimbabwe |
| Language | English |
A World Apart is a 1988 anti-Apartheid drama, written by Shawn Slovo and directed by Chris Menges. It is based on the lives of Slovo's parents, Ruth First and Joe Slovo. The film was a co-production between companies from the UK and Zimbabwe, where the movie was filmed. It features Hans Zimmer's first non-collaborative film score.
Contents |
Set in Johannesburg in 1963, the film examines the abrupt ending of 13-year-old Molly's blithe childhood when her father, a communist and anti-Apartheid-activist, must go into exile and her mother must continue her fight against Apartheid without her husband. Molly is avoided by her white ex-schoolfriends and so she seeks greater closeness to her mother. Due to the attempts at intimidation of the military police and the imprisonment of Molly's mother, the relationship of mother and daughter faces a severe test. The "world apart" of the title refers both to the gap between the woman and the teenage girl - who doesn't understand why her mother is so obsessed by events beyond the comfortable world of the white suburbs - and the space between that world and that of the (black) majority. Essentially, the film is a tribute to Ruth First by her daughter and ends in a moment of epiphany as Molly comes to terms with her mother's political activism and understands that she too must play a part in the struggle to change South Africa.
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Repentance |
Grand Prix Spécial du Jury, Cannes 1988 |
Succeeded by Cinema Paradiso tied with Trop belle pour toi (award retitled Grand Prix du Jury) |
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