Sight&Sound - 04.2020

REVIEWS

70 | Sight&Sound | April 2019

Reviewed by Philip Kemp

Broadly speaking, prison movies tend either to be

fierce and dynamic (Brute Force, 1947; Riot in Cell

Block 11, 1954), frequently climaxing in an outburst

of violence, or slow and insidious (Birdman of

Alcatraz, 1962; The Shawshank Redemption, 1994),

often culminating in an escape bid. Pinnacle of

the latter type is perhaps Un condamné à mort

s’est échappé (A Man Escaped, 1956), and if Francis

Annan’s movie never quite equals the single-

minded austerity of Robert Bresson’s masterpiece,

it’s by no means unworthy of the comparison

• not least for its patient concentration on the
  minute, painstaking details of the escape method.
  Like Bresson’s film, Escape from Pretoria is
  based on actual events, in this case adapted from
  ANC-activist Tim Jenkin’s 1987 memoir of his
  imprisonment in Pretoria Maximum Security
  Jail, from which he escaped, after 20 months’
  incarceration, along with two fellow inmates in
  late 1979. Employed in the carpentry workshop,
  Jenkin ingeniously used his woodworking
  skills to fashion copies of the keys he saw
  hanging from the guards’ belts; and with his
  friend Stephen Lee, with whom he was arrested,
  and another ANC activist, Alex Moumbaris
  (renamed Leonard Fontaine in the movie, in a
  direct nod to A Man Escaped, whose protagonist

is Lieutenant Fontaine), gradually finessed his

way past multiple locks within the jail until

the three emerged into the outside world.

Again as with Bresson, we don’t get much in

the way of backstory. Virtually all we know of

Jenkin is that he’s passionately anti-apartheid

and that he has a black girlfriend; that, and his

stubborn determination to regain his freedom,

using not only the fabricated keys but also

broom handles, threads, wire, paperclips,

chewing gum and whatever else comes to hand.

Geoffrey Hall’s camera focuses in closely on these

improvised contrivances, emphasising their

ramshackle fragility, while David Hirschfelder’s

nervy score further rachets up the tension,

leavened with chunks of choral Verdi.

Further narrative tension is added in the form

of the trio’s clash with the other ANC prisoners,

led by veteran Denis Goldberg, who try to

dissuade them from their freedom bid, fearing

reprisals from the brutal prison guards. In fact,

according to Jenkin’s memoir, their fellow ANC

jailbirds were largely supportive, and indeed we

see them laughing and cheering when they hear

of the successful escape. This minor inconsistency

apart, Annan’s film drives compellingly

forward; the title may act as a spoiler, but it’s

how we get there that holds the attention.

Escape from Pretoria

Director: Francis Annan

Certificate 12A 106m 13s

Johannesburg, 1978. Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee, white

ANC activists, set off explosive devices in the street

to scatter anti-apartheid leaflets. They’re arrested,

convicted, sentenced to 12 and eight years respectively

and sent to Pretoria Prison (for whites only). There, along

with the brutal guards, they encounter Denis Goldberg,

doyen of the ANC prisoners, and Leonard Fontaine,

who agrees to join them in an escape bid. Taking

advantage of being assigned to the prison workshop,

Jenkin starts to fashion wooden replicas of the keys

he sees hanging at the guards’ belts. Over the next 20

months he creates multiple keys for use in 15 locks.

Despite the misgivings of Goldberg and the other ANC

prisoners, the trio make their preparations and escape

in December 1979. They take a taxi to Johannesburg,

and from there make their way to England.

Produced by

Mark Blaney

Jackie Sheppard

David Barron

Gary Hamilton

Michelle Krumm

Screenplay

Francis Annan

L.H. Adams

Inspired by the book

by Tim Jenkin

Director of

Photography

Geoffrey Hall

Editor

Nick Fenton

Production Designer

Scott Bird

Music

David Hirschfelder

Sound Designer

Chris Goodes

Costume Designer

Mariot Kerr

Stunt Coordinator

Johnny Hallyday

Production

Companies

MEP Capital,

Momentum Pictures

and Hamilton

Entertainment

present in association

with South Australian

Film Corporation,

Arclight Films

International,

Particular Crowd,

Spier Films, Enriched

Media Group, Story

Bridge Films and

Premiere Picture

a Footprint Films,

Beaglepug production

Developed and

produced with the

assistance of the

South Australian

Film Corporation

Executive Producers

Andrew Kotliar

Elizabeth Zavoyskiy

Ryan Hamilton

Ying Ye

Brian Beckmann

Todd Fellman

Mike Auret

Bryce Menzies

Roger Savage

Philip Burgin

Mick Southworth

Martin McCabe

Andrew Phillips

David Rogers

Jason Garrett

Prakash Chugani

Deepak Chugani

Dilip Chugani

Cast

Daniel Radcliffe

Tim Jenkin

Daniel Webber

Stephen Lee

Ian Hart

Denis Goldberg

Mark Leonard Winter

Leonard Fontaine

Stephen Hunter

Peter Jenkin

Nathan Page

Mongo

Jeanette Cronin

Mary Jenkin

In Colour

[2.35:1]

Distributor

Signature

Entertainment

Don’t lock now: Daniel Webber, Daniel Radcliffe

Credits and Synopsis

Reviewed by Pamela Hutchinson

Peter Bogdanovich’s documentary on the life and

movies of slapstick poet Buster Keaton begins with

a clip of his own appearance on The Dick Cavett

Show in 1972, singing the praises of the silent star.

With The Great Buster: A Celebration,

Bogdanovich continues to proselytise. This film

is a lavish encomium to Keaton, a figure who

can hardly be described as forgotten or unsung

but who is always worth revisiting. His films

comprise several comic masterpieces, and his

particular skills in the fields of physical dexterity

and mechanical absurdity remain breathtaking

a century on. In fact, this is a documentary worth

watching for the clips alone – showstopping gags

follow one after another, in a storm of perfect

stunts. Had you been living in unfortunate

ignorance of One Week (1920), Sherlock Jr (1924),

The General (1926), Steamboat Bill, Jr (1928) et al,

this film would swiftly convert you to the ranks

of the true believers in the church of Keaton.

Even sober analysis can’t spoil the fun. The

talking heads adding their tributes here include

directors Quentin Tarantino and Werner Herzog

and a host of contemporary comedians. There are

thoughtful contributions from film historians too,

including Leonard Maltin and Patricia Eliot Tobias,

co-founder of the International Buster Keaton

Society. The latter is one of only two women in the

documentary, the other being Cybill Shepherd.

The filmmaker’s protectiveness of his subject

extends to virtually blanking the unpleasant

details of Keaton’s marriage to Natalie Talmadge

and, more appealingly, to rearranging the

chronology for his work. The film first details

Keaton’s rise to fame, followed by the declining

years, when studio travails and drinking dogged his

career. Then it switches back in time to the 1920s

and focuses in turn on each of his sensational

silent comedy features. Keaton therefore exits

this documentary on a high, with a big finish,

as any master of the comic arts would wish.

The Great Buster

A Celebration

USA 2018

Director: Peter Bogdanovich

A documentary in which various figures

discuss the life and films of American actor

and comedian Buster Keaton (1895-1966).

Produced by

Charles S. Cohen

Louise Stratten

Peter Bogdanovich

Roee Sharon Peled

Written by

Peter Bogdanovich

Director of

Photography

Dustin Pearlman

Edited by

Bill Berg-Hillinger

Music

The Mont Alto

Motion Picture

Orchestra

Sound Supervisor

Dan Snow

©Buster K

Documentary

Project, LLC

Production

Companies

Cohen Media Group

presents a Charles S.

Cohen production

Narrated by

Peter Bogdanovich

In Colour and

Black & White

[1.85:1]

Distributor

Screenbound

Pictures

Credits and Synopsis

Buster Keaton: The Great Buster