When Stephen Dorff’s character of PK sees the African child reading from the U

An English boy, living in Africa during World War II, through his boxing prowess, becomes a symbol of hope, in a time of war. An English boy, living in Africa during World War II, through his boxing prowess, becomes a symbol of hope, in a time of war. An English boy, living in Africa during World War II, through his boxing prowess, becomes a symbol of hope, in a time of war.

• Director

• Director

• 1 win 4 nominations

Storyline

• An exhilarating epic of a triumph of the heart.

• Rated PG-13 for some areas of strong violence

Did you know

Doc: To have a brain is not a sin, but to have a brain and not use it, that is a sin.

User reviews 82

S. Declaration of Independence about that all men are created equal, he knew he’d started something. Literacy is always the key to freedom and accessibility to read everything is the second step. The southerners in the slave holding part of the USA knew that well. It was a crime back in the day to teach a black slave to read. In our own country Frederick Douglass knew that well and he counted his education as a first step for freedom for his people.

What I liked about The Power of One is that it goes into the history of the Union of South Africa as seen not from a historian, but from the point of view of a growing boy who was of English parentage. The young man who grew up to be Stephen Dorff because he’s orphaned as a child has to go to a school for Afrikaans children. Their resentment of English encroachment and victory in the Boer War runs deep online pawn shop ME. Their ministers in the Dutch Reformed Church preach a brand of Christianity that can now only be found in the USA among white supremacist fringe groups. It wasn’t so long ago it was more in the mainstream here, let alone in South Africa.

Dorff identifies with the blacks because he’s an oppressed minority as well. The film takes us through the late twenties. thirties, and forties in South African history. The year 1948 is a critical one as shown here. The coalition building of e to an end as his South African Party was voted out of office and the white supremacist Nationalist Party of Daniel Malan was voted in. What was informal before became established law at that point. Of course even then a lot of people of good will in all races living there opposed that policy. It remained in affect until Nelson Mandela was elected president.

Young people are shown as the engineers of change in South Africa. Dorff, his friend Dominic Walker, his African boxing rival Alois Moyo and even Fay Masterson whose father is high up in the Nationalist Party are the opponents. All of them give fine performances.

The two most well known names in the cast are Sir John Gielgud as Dorff’s English headmaster and Morgan Freeman the African who teaches him to box. The first half of the film is a flashback as Dorff’s is reciting an autobiographical essay for class which we don’t realize until the classroom is shown. He learned to box to combat the unceasing bullying he took from the Afrikaans kids. Freeman gives a wonderful performance and the coda to it was supplied by Dorff when he says that the Afrikaans policeman who beat Freeman to death was later found strung up in an isolated area.

One of the kids who bullies Dorff grows up to be Daniel Craig who also becomes a policeman who now have powers greater than they had before. Their confrontation in the end is something to see. As a kid Craig idolized Hitler and as an adult we see how he put those ideas into practice. It’s a truly malevolent portrayal of hate, you could tell Mr. Craig had a good career ahead of him.

As did Stephen Dorff. He’s got a great ear for dialect, right in the tradition of Robert Mitchum. Hard to believe he’s an American.

For a great picture of South Africa turning a dark corner in its history, I highly recommend The Power of One.