Rating: PG
Genre:
Drama
Theatrical Release: 06/17/1988(USA)
Release Date: 08/23/2005
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French/Espanol
Sound: DDS2.0
Run Time: 113 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language
Distributor/Studio: MGM
Cinematographer
Chris Menges' first directorial effort,
A World Apart was inspired by the lives of South African journalist Ruth First and her daughter
Shawn Slovo (who wrote the film's screenplay).
Barbara Hershey plays the fictional counterpart to Ms. First, Diana Roth, with
Jodhi May as her daughter. Told from the daughter's viewpoint, the film shows us that Diana and her husband
Jeroen Krabbe are so busy with their anti-Apartheid political activism that they totally shut May out of their lives. In 1963, Hershey is arrested by the South African police, becoming the first white woman to be held under the infamous 90-day-detention act. Left despondent and suicidal by two separate arrests and by constant harassment from the police, Diana still won't include her daughter in her life until the girl presses the issue in a climactic confrontation. Some critics felt that Shawn Slovo was using
A World Apart to settle unresolved issues in her own life: Ruth First was killed under suspicious circumstances in 1982, without ever reconciling with her daughter.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
