Escape from Pretoria

It was the 1970s and apartheid was still being strictly enforced in S. Africa. A small band of anti-apartheid white men were working to change that and one way was to plant "bombs" on the streets that would shoot hundreds of leaflets into the air because it was illegal to openly campaign for the cause. The bombs didn't hurt anyone, still two of them were arrested and sent to a highly secure prison in Pretoria, one for 8 years the other for 12 years.

Daniel Radcliffe plays one of them, Tim Jenkin who was sentenced to 12 years and who wrote the book upon which this movie is based. Jenkin himself makes a short cameo appearance in the movie and discusses all this in an "extra" on the DVD.

So the title tells us the outcome, over about a 13 month period, the movie about how they did it is even more interesting than I had expected. The way each cell is are locked there is an inside door with bars and sandwiched to it is a solid steel door that opens to the hallway. Plus there are another dozen or so locked doors between the cell and freedom. Plus not all of them take the same key. Highly secure, realistically no way for a prisoner to escape ... or so they thought. Think keys made of wood.

I watched this at home on DVD from my public library, my wife started but it got too slow for her and she abandoned it. I find it a very good movie of a historically significant story, Radcliffe is very believable in the role as Jenkin.