Released in South Africa on 15 November 1951, Cry, the Beloved Country was among the
very first feature films of Sidney Poitier‘s long career. The then 24-year-old plays Theophilus Msimangu, a reverend who assists fellow minister Stephen Kumalo (Canada Lee) in nurturing his ill sister and locating his son Absalom (Lionel Ngakane), who has left without contact. Their cause takes them through Johannesburg and the newly imposed apartheid system, exposing its layers of injustice and dysfunction.
Cry, the Beloved Country is novel in its presentation of black African perspectives some 15 years before the civil rights pictures of the 1960s, such as Poitier’s own Look Who’s Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night. Those two films are likely to feature in any retrospective of cinema and race, but not Cry, the Beloved Country.
Why is that? Well, the pacing is deliberate; characters speak at length and often about banal details.
very first feature films of Sidney Poitier‘s long career. The then 24-year-old plays Theophilus Msimangu, a reverend who assists fellow minister Stephen Kumalo (Canada Lee) in nurturing his ill sister and locating his son Absalom (Lionel Ngakane), who has left without contact. Their cause takes them through Johannesburg and the newly imposed apartheid system, exposing its layers of injustice and dysfunction.
Cry, the Beloved Country is novel in its presentation of black African perspectives some 15 years before the civil rights pictures of the 1960s, such as Poitier’s own Look Who’s Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night. Those two films are likely to feature in any retrospective of cinema and race, but not Cry, the Beloved Country.
Why is that? Well, the pacing is deliberate; characters speak at length and often about banal details.
- 10/18/2023
- by Jack Hawkins
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Updated with latest: Networks are marshaling to set programming this month in tribute of Sidney Poitier, the groundbreaking and Oscar-winning actor and civil rights activist who died last week at age 94.
OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network will feature special programming this Sunday that includes the iconic actor’s 2000 and 2007 appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and an airing of his 1967 film To Sir, With Love. The network also said that it will air the 2015 special Oprah Winfrey Presents: Legends Who Paved the Way featuring Poitier at a gala honoring “some of the legendary men and extraordinary women of the civil rights movement who made history.”
To Sir, With Love and the Oprah Winfrey Show episodes will be available beginning Sunday on the WatchOWN app, the network said.
TCM said today that it will roll out 12 Poitier movies in a marathon programming block Saturday and Sunday, February 19-20. February 20 will mark what...
OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network will feature special programming this Sunday that includes the iconic actor’s 2000 and 2007 appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and an airing of his 1967 film To Sir, With Love. The network also said that it will air the 2015 special Oprah Winfrey Presents: Legends Who Paved the Way featuring Poitier at a gala honoring “some of the legendary men and extraordinary women of the civil rights movement who made history.”
To Sir, With Love and the Oprah Winfrey Show episodes will be available beginning Sunday on the WatchOWN app, the network said.
TCM said today that it will roll out 12 Poitier movies in a marathon programming block Saturday and Sunday, February 19-20. February 20 will mark what...
- 1/13/2022
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Netflix may get most of the attention, but it’s hardly a one-stop shop for cinephiles who are looking to stream essential classic and contemporary films. Each of the prominent streaming platforms caters to its own niche of film obsessives.
From chilling horror fare on Shudder, to the boundless wonders of the Criterion Channel, and esoteric (but unmissable) festival hits on Film Movement Plus and Ovid.tv, IndieWire’s monthly guide highlights the best of what’s coming to every major streaming site, with an eye towards exclusive titles that may help readers decide which of these services is right for them.
Here’s the best of the best for February 2020.
“Close-Up”
The Criterion Channel invariably offers the deepest and most compelling slate of any streaming service, but this month’s additions almost border on overkill; how is anyone supposed to choose where to start? The programming lineup kicks off...
From chilling horror fare on Shudder, to the boundless wonders of the Criterion Channel, and esoteric (but unmissable) festival hits on Film Movement Plus and Ovid.tv, IndieWire’s monthly guide highlights the best of what’s coming to every major streaming site, with an eye towards exclusive titles that may help readers decide which of these services is right for them.
Here’s the best of the best for February 2020.
“Close-Up”
The Criterion Channel invariably offers the deepest and most compelling slate of any streaming service, but this month’s additions almost border on overkill; how is anyone supposed to choose where to start? The programming lineup kicks off...
- 2/10/2020
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
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