Cry The Beloved Country (1995)

Synopsis: This powerful adaptation of Alan Paton's 1940s-set racial drama (previously filmed by Zoltan Korda in 1951) centres on the converging lives of a black minister in rural South Africa and his white landowner neighbour. The first major feature to be shot in South Africa since the abolition of apartheid, Darrell James Roodt's film gains emotional resonance from the gentle, softly spoken sincerity of James Earl Jones as the pastor, devastated by the fate of his family in Johannesburg. Even if it occasionally feels a little manipulative (John Barry's score, for example), it is hard not to be affected by the film's climax. JC

Runtime: 111 min