Prison escape movies are not exactly few and far between but, as far as I am aware (and I am probably wrong lol), not many of them are inspired by real events. If they are, then I think the prison system as a whole might have a serious security problem. Our latest randomly selected watch, Escape From Pretoria is one such movie.
After a quick barrage of archival footage depicting some of the horrors of the apartheid regime, we are introduced to political activists Tim Jenkin (Daniel Radcliffe) and Stephen Lee (Daniel Webber) as they carry out a campaign of leaflet bombing, designed by Jenkin, urging whites to join the cause and end the racist policies of South Africa. When they are caught, they are each sentenced to twelve and eight years respectively in Pretoria political prison. Not satisfied with being imprisoned for the cause, the two friends join up with fellow inmate Leonard Fontaine (Mark Leonard Winter) and come up with a scheme to break out of Pretoria and rejoin the fight.
Tim Jenkin uses his bomb-making, engineering mind to come up with a plan that seems simple in its premise but is technically difficult in its execution; handcraft a set of the prisons keys out of wood. Whittled and carved in secret, Jenkin and his friends must test their keys under the cover of darkness. One door at a time until they reach that ever elusive freedom.
Escape From Pretoria is quite minimalist in its approach. There are no prison yard riots, major clashes of personality or the overt demonisation of the prison guards for dramatic effect, although they do give us just enough to really get behind Jenkin and his pals and support their bid for freedom. Instead the film focuses on the matter at hand, which is the painstaking process of committing the size, shape and dimensions of the prison keys to memory, whittling them down to exact copies and silently testing, testing, testing – praying that the somewhat flimsy keys don’t break – until perfection is achieved and freedom beckons.
Although I do admire the approach, it means there is absolutely nowhere to hide and ultimately Escape From Pretoria fails to deliver anything more than fair-to-middling.
There are strong performances throughout and Radcliffe, no stranger to taking center stage, puts in a solid lead performance but the acting is let down by the rather clunky, underwhelming script and the casts’ inconsistent South African accents offer unfortunate distractions at rather inopportune times.
As you can imagine, there is a large atmosphere of suspense throughout the film, including one drawn out scene involving a dropped key and some bubble gum that made me physically uncomfortable to watch, which were punctuated by a distinct lack of background noise. There was no memorable score or Jaws inspired ba-dum ba-dum to ramp up the tension, instead the audience are left to listen to Jenkin’s laboured breathing as we all, actors and audience alike, wait to hear the satisfying click of an opened lock.
When watching the film, I wasn’t really a huge fan of the lack of music but as I’m sat here writing this review, I realise that it was, in fact, a great stylistic choice and a sure fire way to put the audience on the edge of their seats.
I wasn’t disappointed with this film, but I wasn’t left feeling particularly thrilled or satisfied by the time the credits rolled. I don’t know about you but I always check out the trivia on IMDB whenever I finish a film or series (You never know when it might come in handy!). And when you realise the importance of some of the props used or when you have the real life Tim Jenkin stating that the accuracy of some of the scenes were “almost exactly how it actually happened” it really helps you appreciate the film a whole lot more. And it is for these very reasons, why I would urge you all to add Escape From Pretoria to your watchlist for the weekend.
