The Power of One *** (1992, Stephen Dorff, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Morgan Freeman, John Gielgud) – Classic Movie Review 12,009

Director John G Avildsen’s 1992 drama film The Power of One is based on the novel by Bryce Courtenay, and stars Stephen Dorff, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Morgan Freeman and John Gielgud.

The Power of One is the good-hearted and entertaining tale of an English South African boy, P K Newborn, aka PK or Peekay, growing up under apartheid in South Africa during World War Two. He is born in 1930 to a recently widowed Englishwoman on a homestead in South Africa, and the film follows PK as he goes from infant (Brendan Deary) to age 7 (Guy Witcher) to 12 (Simon Fenton) to 18 (Stephen Dorff).

PK loses his mother, and is sent to a conservative Afrikaans boarding school, where he is bullied by his Afrikaner fellows. But he is taught the power of one by a series of nice adults – an Afrikaner girl Maria Marais (Fay Masterson), the lonely interned good German musician Karl ‘Doc’ von Vollensteen (Armin Mueller-Stahl), who teaches him to become an excellent pianist, a noble Cape Coloured prison inmate called Geel Piet (Morgan Freeman), who teaches him boxing, and the kindly headmaster St John (John Gielgud), who gets him a place at Oxford.

The Power of One is sometimes predictable and simplistic but overall intelligent, thoughtful and worthwhile. Director Avildsen tries with partial success to whip the film up into a crowd-pleaser as the little boy grows into a winsome teenager (Stephen Dorff), who learns to box, to love and be an inspirational hero.

It treads carefully and mostly avoids criticism through its heart-felt sincerity and crisp professionalism. The actors are solid, giving good performances, especially Dorff, as well as Mueller-Stahl, Freeman and Gielgud, but they are dwarfed by the amazing scenery.

It is the debut movie of Daniel Craig (as Sergeant Botha).

Also in the cast are Guy Witcher, Simon Fenton, Maria Marais, John Turner, Robbie Bulloch, Nigel Ivy (P K Newborn), Brendan Deary (P K Infant), Winston Mangwarara, Clive Russell, Dominic Walker, Fay Masterson, Christien Anholt, Tracy Brooks Swope, Winston Ntshona, Alois Moyo, Ian Roberts, Daniel Craig and Faith Edwards.

Morgan Freeman recalled the film ‘wasn’t as good as I had hoped it would be.’

The cast are Guy Witcher as PK at age 7, Simon Fenton as PK at age 12, Stephen Dorff as PK at age 18, Armin Mueller-Stahl as Doc, Jeremiah Mnisi as Dabula Manzi, Ian Roberts as Hoppie Gruenewald, John Gielgud as St. John, the Headmaster, Fay Masterson as Maria Marais, Morgan Freeman as Geel Piet, Daniel Craig as Sergeant Jaapie Botha, Robbie Bulloch as the teenage Botha, Dominic Walker as Morrie Gilbert, Faith Edwards as Miriam Sisulu, Alois Moyo as Gideon Duma, Brian O’Shaughnessy as Colonel Breyten, Marius Weyers as Professor Daniel Marais, Clive Russell as Sergeant Bormann, Winston Ntshona as Mlungisi, Nomadlozi Kubheka as Nanny, and Mark Clements as school boy.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,009

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