Product Details

• Actors: Richard Harris, James Earl Jones, Tsholofelo Wechoemang, Charles S. Dutton, Dolly Rathebe
• Directors: Darrell Roodt
• Writers: Alan Paton, Ronald Harwood
• Producers: Anant Singh, Harry Alan Towers, Helena Spring
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• VHS Release Date: April 15, 1997
• Run Time: 106 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304078080
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #224,421 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This moving 1995 adaptation of Alan Paton's celebrated novel stars James Earl Jones as a beloved, rural minister in South Africa who makes his first trip to Johannesburg in search of his son. The latter's destiny has been linked with that of a doomed, young white man, whose racist father (Richard Harris) is approached by Jones's character in the spirit of mutual understanding. Directed by Darrell James Roodt (Sarafina!), the film is most powerful in those scenes featuring Harris and Jones together, though early sequences grounded in the hard life and times of Jones's community are colorful and dramatic. It's impossible not to be touched by the cautious but real connection made between the principal characters and by the moral authenticity of the actors. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

Powerful and uplifting, CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY was widely hailed as one of the best films of the year! In a land torn by hatred and injustice, James Earl Jones (CLEAR & PRESENT DANGER) and Richard Harris (GLADIATOR, THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO) are two fathers -- one a man of peace, the other a man of power and privelege -- whose lives seem destined for a violent collision. But instead, in the wake of a tragic killing, these extraordinary men form an unlikely union ... and together find the kind of understanding that could heal a nation! Based on the acclaimed novel, this electrifying motion picture will both entertain and inspire you!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MAGNIFICENT AND MOVING FILM..., February 4, 2001

By 

Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Cry the Beloved Country [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This adaptation of Alan Paton's best selling novel is superior to the 1951 version starring Sidney Poitier, though that earlier adaptation is also excellent. Here, Richard Harris gives a sharply drawn performance as a hard nosed, well to do landowner in South Africa with a somewhat negative attitude toward the native population. James Earl Jones gives a beautifully nuanced, sensitive performance as a simple, country preacher who is described by a colleague as simply the "best man he ever met".

The story takes place in 1946. The preacher temporaily leaves his flock and family to go to Johannesburg to search for his brother, his sister, and his son, Absalom. For those who are well versed in the Bible, the name "Absalom" is not without significance.

He finds all three, but too late. His brother has turned away from the church and become involved in racial politics. His sister has turned to prostitution, and his son has become involved with less than salubrious companions.

The landowner lives in the same countryside as the preacher, and he, too, has a son. As did the preacher's son, his had also migrated to Johannesburg, and was a well known city engineer, as well as an altruist dedicated to helping the native population. Unfortunately, the son ends up murdered in his own home by a gang of natives, one of whom is Absalom.

While the landowner and the preacher may have been from the same area and their paths may have crossed, they had never before spoken to one another, until their paths tragically intersected through their sons: one murdered, the other, the murderer. Their respective journeys to reach their sons serves to starkly draw the contrast between White and Black South Africa. In fact, this is essentially the story of two South Africas, one White, the other, Black.

It is also the story of two fathers, each finding that his son is lost to him forever. What follows is the struggle of each father to understand what happened, and the reasons why it may have happened in the bigger context. Ultimately, they are just fathers, united in sorrow, as they never could have been in life, at least not in South Africa; neither of whom comprehends the new order of things to come. Yet, as each discovers who his son had been, a new understanding dawns upon them and a barrier is surmounted.

There is an inadvertent meeting between the two fathers while in Johannesburg, that is one of the most moving scenes of any film, carried by the affecting performances of Harris and Jones. It is a moment that is certainly not lost on the viewer. There is also one other scene where the fathers meet again, back in the countryside where they are from. Again, Harris and Jones create a mood that bespeaks volumes, such is their talent.

This is an incredible and memorable film that should not be missed. Harris and Jones are supported by Charles Dutton, who gives a dynamic performance as the preacher's errant brother, and by a largely unknown cast who are uniformly excellent. This is a quality film from beginning to end.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars James Earl Jones Shines in Noble Performance, February 8, 2006

By 

Mark J. Fowler "Let's Play Two!" (Jacksonville, Florida) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Cry, The Beloved Country (DVD)

Darrell Roodt chose carefully when it was time to direct the first film of South Africa after the abolition of Apartheid. Alan Paton's novel was first filmed in 1951, and "Cry the Beloved Country" is a tale that seems as much a part of the South African collective zeitgeist as Twain or Hemingway or Steinbeck is part of America's.

This film version is centered around perhaps James Earl Jones' most powerful screen performance. He stars as the Reverend Stephen Kumalo, a clergyman from a small town in South Africa. He is a strong man of faith and leads a congregation in matters both religious and practical. His son ran away to Johannesburg to work in the mines, and his sister went away also to join her husband. His brother, John, is also in the city, an outspoken black activist who has abandoned the ways of religion because religion is not creating justice for blacks. The film opens with Reverend Kumalo receiving word that things are not all well in Johannesburg.

Richard Harris has the role of James Jarvis, a wealthy white landowner from the same small town. His son has also gone to Johannesburg, where he works as an activist trying to improve the repressed condition of the South African Blacks who are only starting to come under the evil thumb of Apartheid.

The whites and blacks are so separate that although they are two of the most prominent figures in a small town, Mr. Jarvis and the Reverend Kumalo have not even met as the movie opens. Tragedy strikes, more than once, and without spoiling the plot I'll just reveal that it involves the two sons of these two characters.

Roodt goes out of his way to display the noble suffering of Reverend Kumalo. He never speaks a discouraging word, even when confronting terrible injustice. The story hinges on Kumalo's innate goodness, and Mr. Jones brings this to life in a way that carries the story along.

It is worth mentioning a single scene - the one in which Kumalo and Jarvis first meet. The previously mentioned tragedy has already occurred and both men are in a kind of mourning. Kumalo knows Jarvis while Jarvis vaguely recognizes Kumalo. The Reverend confides in the powerful white man that "My greatest sorrow is also your greatest sorrow". The performances by these two great actors in this powerful scene would be reason alone to watch this film, but I would still recommend the movie with that centerpiece scene removed.

It is clichéd to say that the world would be a better place if we were collectively more understanding and tolerant of those who were different from us, but "Cry the Beloved Country" brings this sentiment forward in a way that is realistic and powerful.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Patience for this movie pays off in the end, May 28, 2002

By 

Michael W. Klein (Stanwood, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cry the Beloved Country [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I remember seeing the trailers for "Cry, The Beloved Country," in the theater before it came out, later I realized I missed my chance to see it on the big screen when I saw it in the video store. I can only imagine the impact this movie would have on me if I had seen it on the big screen.

In the opening scenes the audience is treated to absolutely breath-taking images of the hills of South Africa, it is there that you are introduced to the story's protangonist Rev. Kumalo, the pastor of a small country church in South Africa. The role of Kumalo is played brilliantly by James Earl Jones.

In the opening scenes Rev. Kumalo travels to Johannesburg to come to the aid of his sister and to search for his son. While in Johannesburg, the lives of Rev. Kumalo and James Jarvis, a weathly farmer and neighbor of Kumalo played by Richard Harris, are brought together by an event (I will leave it at that) that will profoundly affect the lives of both men. Pay particular attention to the scene where Jones and Harris first meet, it is a wonderful example what is possible when two accomplished actors are put together and given the chance to ply their trades.

"Cry, The Beloved Country," does require some patience from the viewer, director Darrell Roodt builds the story slowly and deliberately, and even this level of dillegence doesn't completely pay off, but when the movie comes to it's climax I can guarantee you will appreciate the time Roodt took to set up the story in the beginning of the movie.

This is really the story of an honest man in dishonest wolrd and the effect individuals can make in the lives of others. This movie should have recieved much more attention when it was in the theaters and Jones should have recieved an Oscar nomination for his preformance.

The final scene of the movie ends much as it starts, in the hills of South Africa. Director Darrel Roodt uses this local as bookends for this wonderous story. This movie is not available on DVD, but look for it on video tape it is well worth the effort.