Product Details

• Actors: Pierce Brosnan, Edward Woodward, Maynard Eziashi, Beatie Edney, Denis Quilley
• Directors: Bruce Beresford
• Writers: Joyce Cary, William Boyd
• Producers: Bill Benenson, Eva Monley, Michael Fitzgerald, Penelope Glass
• Format: Color, EP, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Direct Source Label
• VHS Release Date: July 11, 2000
• Run Time: 97 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305506655
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #322,262 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

British East Africa, 1923. Harry Rudbeck, an ambitious army officer, wants to build a road to bring the outside world to the backwater town where he is posted. Struggling to find ways around Foreign Service bureaucracy, he relies on his resourceful African clerk, Mr. Johnson. But when Johnson's can-do attitude runs afoul of British law, Rudbeck must make a painful decision. The film is deliberately paced, and the topnotch cinematography, art direction, and soundtrack all conspire to immerse you into the sweltering heat of East Africa. Maynard Eziashi gives winning performance as Johnson, a man so intent on becoming important that it destroys him. Like many of director Bruce Beresford's movies, this is a clear-eyed look at the way a collision of two cultures can lead to tragedy. Rudbeck must ultimately face the fact that his own ambition leads to the death of his friend, and Pierce Brosnan (as Rudbeck) and Beresford refuse to sentimentalize the man at all. Among Beresford's films, this is much closer in tone to Breaker Morant than to the kinder, gentler Driving Miss Daisy. --Geof Miller

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What The Road To Hell Is Paved With, May 27, 2004

By 

Ross E. Nelson (Casselton, North Dakota United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mister Johnson [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Read Amazon.com's editorial review of this movie for a good overview of its setting. I can only add that the movie is a look at how good intentions can backfire, in this case that of the European view of progress mixing with African tradition like oil with water.

The outcome is tragic, yet the principal characters have nothing but fine motives for what they are about. Culture and other impersonal forces have the final say, and one is left to wonder if progress, or may I say "progress," should be forced on a reluctant people.

Director Bruce Beresford has been rather unfairly criticized for lop-sided portrayals of virtuous native cultures versus corruptive western civilization, but as with his superb "Black Robe" movie "Mister Johnson" shows some of the less flattering sides of primitive societies. Indeed, "Black Robe" set off a minor spate of protest for its unblinkingly frank portrayal of Indian tribes in North America several centuries ago.

Ultimately it's probably safe to say that "Mister Johnson" gives a fairly sympathetic showing of the Africans suddenly entangled in the road project headed up by Pierce Brosnan's character, but does so without truckling. This movie also shows that Brosnan has a broader range than just playing Bond, James Bond.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Classic Tragedy, May 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Mister Johnson [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This deceptively simple, underrated drama is actually a very good classical tragedy, set in colonial Africa. The protagonist is brought down by his tragic character flaw; the rules of unity are also in evidence. Give it a chance, particularly if you are a student of classical literature.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mister Johnson, September 30, 2009

By 

Homer C. Sherman - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mister Johnson (DVD)

This film has some of the most authentic depiction of village life in Northern Nigeria I have ever seen. I spent four years in Nigeria (1962-1966} and I have never seen better footage. Many Nigerian intellectuals detested the novel by Joyce Carey upon which this film is based. However the work is an honest account of the clash of cultures and the human tragedy which often transires.

I was disappointed that the jacket description says the film was set in South Africa. South Africa is as different from Nigeria as Portugal is from Finland.