CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY

UK/South Africa, 1951, 92 minutes, Black and White.
Canada Lee, Charles Carson, Sidney Poitier, Joyce Carey, Geoffrey Keen, Michael Goodliffe.
Directed by 'Zoltan Korda.

Cry, The Beloved Country is based on Alan Paton's novel, one of the finest to come out of South Africa and one giving a great deal of insight into that country's multi-racial situations. Paton himself wrote the screenplay for the film.

It is beautifully acted by Canada Lee who died soon after its filming. A young Sidney Poitier plays the role of a priest in Johannesburg.

The film traces the journey of a clergyman from a country village to the sprawling city and its shanty-towns, and through a world of poverty, petty crime, bitterness and murder; a lament for what South Africa, the beloved country, has produced. Noted song-writer, Kurt Well, and poet-dramatist. Maxwell Anderson, wrote a musical based on the novel entitled Lost in the Stars.

Cry, The Beloved Country is a very moving film that can be highly recommended.

1. The significance of the lament of the title and its verification during the film?

2. The basic message of the film - how convincingly did it come across, how sincerely? Was the message too dominant? Has the film propaganda about South Africa?

3. The presentation of the country itself - the opening, its description, the train ride to Johannesburg and the changing facets of the country, the city -suburbs and scanty-towns, villages and farms? Did something of the real South Africa come across?

4. What was the basic message about black and white races in South Africa -shaking hands, Arthur Jarvis's writings, new learning from tragedies?

5. How compelling was the plot? How neatly constructed - the two fathers and the deaths of the two sons? Has this convincing?

6. The sense of realism for the plot ~ the location photography, the small details of ordinary life - the child with the letter, the people on the train, the man who stole the ticket, money etc.?

7. What kind of man was the Rev. Kumalo? How did the case for the humanity of black Africa rest on him during the film? How did he present it? How good a man was he? How good a priest? Why was his family a failure -was he to blame? How important for him was it to go to Johannesburg? How difficult? How sorrowful was his search - for sister, brother, son? Why did he have to bear such sorrows? How well did he cope with them?

8. Johannesburg as a character - corrupting and destroying black Africans lost there - the mines, the shanty-towns, job opportunities, wages, prostitution (the sister}, smug self-satisfaction (the brother}, crime and reformatories (Absolom)? How was this city a symbol of what was wrong with South Africa?

9. The priests of Johannesburg - a welcoming community of black and white?
- Fr. Mismanger - his kindness, knowledge of the city and its people, yet his anger. Why was he angry?
- The Superior - his kindness yet firmness?

10. The Reformatory Officer - his work, dedication and trust? His pride, suffering and anger? Why could he be so angry?

11. The Jarvis family and white attitudes? James disagreeing with his son, fraternising, his mother proud of him. How typical were the attitudes of these two? Why was Arthur Jarvis so involved in working for black Africans?

12. The irony of his death - reactions? Why? His father and mother? The press reporters? Rev. Kumalo? The priests? The people at the funeral - the grief of black and white? The letters to Arthur Jarvis, his writings? The effect of his death on people?

13. The sadness for all, especially Rev. Kumalo that Absalom was the killer? Why had he attempted the robbery? Why was he afraid? Why did he give himself up?

14. Was it right that he should die? (The bitter irony of the other's discharge and the self-congratulation of John Kumalo)?

15. The scene between the two fathers and its significance? The change in James Jarvis? The film implied that all people like him could change when touched personally. Is this possible?

16. The sadness, yet hope, of the ending - the return to the village and the dawn of execution and a new beginning?