A WORLD APART (1988)

TRIBUTE SCREENING

Made six years before the end of Apartheid, screenwriter Shawn Slovo’s account of her parents’ fight against South Africa’s racist government had to be filmed in Zimbabwe. Its international success helped foster further films dealing with the issue. Slovo’s on-screen stand-in, Molly (Jodhi May), at first doesn’t understand what’s going on in her country. She only knows that her father (Jeroen Krabbe) has had to flee, while her mother (Barbara Hershey) is arrested. As she comes of age, she learns of the harsh living conditions forced on the family’s black housekeeper (Linda Mvusi).  This was the first feature directed by Oscar-winning cinematographer Chris Menges, and with cameraman Peter Bizou, he made the film a visual feast. But he also emphasized the human element, which led the Cannes Film Festival to award that year’s Best Actress award jointly to Hershey, May and Mvusi, the first black actress to win that award.

d. Chris Menges, 113m, DCP

DCP courtesy Amazon Studios and Park Circus.