Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Yazmin Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Rodrigo Amaro An important and recurring film trend in the 1980's was to deal with the apartheid in South Africa, which brought to the world a deep understanding of what the British were doing in that nation with their racial politics of segregation. The world got deeply involved with that, protested in every possible way and when the 1990's came, it was all over, South Africa was free again even though it took some time to reach peace and to develop politics for blacks and whites. The film trend had films like "Cry Freedom", "A Dry White Season" and this one directed by Chris Menges, best known as cinematographer of many classics. What makes "A World Apart" to differ from those besides the quality (the mentioned films are far better) is that it's a story that seemed designed to educate younger audiences about the apartheid reality. Commendable initiative but the ambition is so big that the movie falls short of accomplish something with such difficult task.In the 1960's Johannesburg, the 13 year-old Molly (Jodhi May) tries to understand the world around her, a world of segregation where whites have everything and blacks don't have anything but following the racist laws created by the British where rights are denied, no public meetings are allowed, protests are deemed illegal and people are sent to jail to long sentences or die in suspicious circumstances. Those facts hit her closely when her father (Jeroen Krabbé) leaves the house to never return and her dedicated mother (Barbara Hershey) is arrested under a new law that allowed authorities to sent suspect people to jail for a 90-day period without trial. Molly's parents are leftist journalists who support the black South Africans in their quest for freedom and social rights. What follows is Molly's perspectives about this harsh reality as a young girl growing up, having to face life without the presence of her parents, taking care of her younger sisters, without any help from her friends who turned away from her when they heard about the mother's politics and imprisonment. The film is good. The idea, though lacking and confusing, makes the film something worth seeing and almost important. However, Shawn Slovo's screenplay isn't all that great and neither deserving of the many accolades it received (a Bafta win included). I thought everything was taken too lightly, tension is built then fades away. Little is known about the activism of Molly's parents and Jeroen as the father has only one scene and we never get the chance to know why he was so important to the cause, and what really happened to him. It's the kind of script that ends up treating its adult audience as children, and if the concept was schemed to bring kids to it, then it failed a lot cause they don't offer a background neither a summary to the events taking place in South Africa and they'll feel lost. Gladly, some scenes are very convincing, there's a good drama that sometimes unfolds with some bumps, those happen more because of the acting than the script itself. I know a lot of people are head over heels Jodhi as Molly but I frankly thought it was one of the strangest performances I've seen in a child actor. In quiet/moderate scenes she owns the role, and you cheers for her character, always wanting to see her overcome the obstacles life thrown at her. But when it's time to break down, cry and yell, or act different than her sweet almost naive way, she felt so forced, so over-the-top I couldn't relate with the girl anymore. Yes, Molly is supposed to be spoiled and ungrateful towards her caring mother (she truly believes she can change the world around her, to the point of enduring all those days in prison) but the sentimentalism she brings with that, just make her intolerable. Barbara Hershey carries the film in a good way, too bad the movie wasn't focused directly on her. Tim Roth's role is brief but it's a class act; David Suchet always deserves credit whenever he plays a villain, it's a subtle bad guy who appears to be good.Can I say the movie is positive for the cause of education? Yes, I can. But if you really can show to your children the films I mentioned earlier, then move on with the history books, documentaries or even "Invictus", this one more contemporary. 7/10

Michael Neumann The first dramatic feature directed by Oscar-winning cinematographer Chris Menges tackles the injustices of Apartheid, without trivializing the issues or compromising the dramatic integrity of its script. Instead of adopting a gratuitous high moral tone, Menges concentrates first on telling a good story, following the growth to maturity of an adolescent (white) girl, already racially color blind, who feels neglected by her journalist/activist mother. The film might be criticized for once again using white protagonists to educate audiences about the black experience in South Africa, but it's a hollow complaint: writer Shawn Slovo based her script on personal experience, and the depth of its detail reflects her crystal-clear memories of growing up in Johannesburg during the early 1960s.That the film succeeds more on a personal level in no way diminishes its political message, which unlike other anti-Apartheid dramas is never force-fed in condescending spoonfuls ("I know that already; stop treating me like a baby!" cries the frustrated young heroine after yet another lecture from mom). No easy solutions are offered, and the film ends in just another riot, suggesting with cautious optimism the hope for ultimate victory after what promises to be a long and difficult struggle.

zuri45 I enjoyed the movie tremendously.. In America, in Florida, especially apartheid is strong movement in every aspect of living.. It is strong in choices of housing,church,employment,even chosing your mate..I have felt the hate of apartheid even in my own family, because I had a handicap and health problems, and was mistreated as a slave for 30 years until now I am labeled as mentally ill but I feel like a POW, a political prisoner for standing up for my own unique, individual and individual beliefs that all human beings should be treated with dignity, respect and have a right to employment with a descent wage and a right to be free of torture or torment or abuse for differing from the community or world society or whoever makes the big decisions in the world about who is considered a human being which is usually someone who is bad and one who believes in hate and control rather than freedom and love and light.. I myself feel and live like Diana Roth over here even though the label on me is mentally ill.. I know hate and lived with it even in my own mother's womb and have tasted it in the air here in america ever since I landed in this country.. God's love only helped me survived this cruel, inhumane and hateful society against people who stand for truth, honest, and goodness.and most of all love for all people..not some...

sandie-6 This is a very good film with outstanding performances, particularly from Jodhi May and Barbara Hershey. The story of the Slovo-First family is very compelling and deserving of this fine treatment. As someone who has spent time in South Africa, both during and after Apartheid, I can attest to its authenticity.The film works best, however, as a portrait of a troubled family. It carefully and truthfully depicts the agony of an adolescent girl who knows that her parents are trying to change her world for the better but at the expense of a normal life for her and her siblings. As Gillian Slovo so accurately stated, 'Here we were going off to Girl Guides while our parents were advocating the violent overthrow of our country's government.'This film makes a powerful and moving, yet personal statement.