![]() In the case of Escape From Pretoria this is both true and not true. In real life this doesn’t usually happen as the plans are generally much simpler. Heist and prison escape movies generally work best when they have really elaborate plans with a bunch of twists that keep you guessing until the last minute. While the idea of a prison escape movie based on real events really intrigued me I was a little cautious as I didn’t know how well it would work. Without going into deep research the events of the movie seem to have happened for the most part even if parts might have been exaggerated in order to make for a better movie. The only main character that is not based on a real person is Leonard Fontaine as he is more of a combination of the other prisoners that were involved in the escape attempt. The movie also features Denis Goldberg who was also sent to the same prison for helping Nelson Mandela. Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee were real people and they did attempt to escape from the Pretoria prison. This is at least partly due to the fact that it is based on a book written by one of the people involved in the escape attempt. ![]() In the case of Escape From Pretoria it appears to be accurate for the most part. Some movies from this genre are loosely based on real stories while others actually do a good job replicating what actually happened. As they are always being watched they must work in secret as they prepare and practice their escape attempt to perfect it before their final attempt.Īs a fan of true story films I have always been a little leery of the words “based on a true story” as they can be misleading at times. Along the way they get help from the other political prisoners including a man named Leonard Fontaine. They soon develop a plan which involves recreating the prison’s keys out of wood to create their own path out of the prison. Sent to jail for twelve and eight years respectively the two men decide that they will try to find a way to escape. Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee are arrested and convicted of distributing fliers for Nelson Mandela’s ANC trying to end Apartheid in South Africa. The story takes place in 1979 South Africa during Apartheid. The movie tells the true story of the escape of Tim Jenkin (Daniel Radcliffe) and Stephen Lee (Daniel Webber) from the Pretoria prison. Receiving the screener had no impact on the content of this review or the final score.Įscape From Pretoria is movie based on the novel Inside Out: Escape from Pretoria Prison written by Tim Jenkin. Other than receiving the screener we at Geeky Hobbies received no other compensation. We would like to thank Momentum Pictures for the screener of Escape From Pretoria used for this review. Escape From Pretoria may not have all of the elaborate twists and turns of your typical prison escape movie, but it crafts a truly compelling and tense prison break story based on true events. The movie is a true story about the plotting and executing of an escape from prison. For these reasons I was really intrigued by Escape From Pretoria as it combines both genres. What I love about these movies is the execution of a clever plan with lots of twists and the tension that builds wondering whether the protagonists will be successful. In addition to true stories I have also always been a big fan of heist/prison escape movies. While fiction stories are also entertaining there is just something really interesting about stories based on events that actually happened in real life. Just yesterday marked the twentieth anniversary of The Green Mile.Regular readers of Geeky Hobbies probably already know that I am a huge fan of movies based on true stories. Watching an incarcerated individual cope with his or her abjectly hopeless surroundings has been great fodder for storytelling over the years. Prison movies have a long history in Hollywood. Along with two imprisoned fellow freedom fighters, played by Daniel Webber and Mark Leonard Winter, Tim escaped on 11th December 1970 using hand-made wooden keys which he crafted whilst incarcerated. Here’s an official synopsis from Signature Entertainment:ĭaniel Radcliffe stars as Tim Jenkin – a real life ANC activist who was imprisoned in Africa’s maximum security prison Pretoria in the 1970s during the Apartheid. And the trailer suggests it has much in common with a pair of classics: Escape from Alcatraz and Papillon (the 1973 one with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, of course). Also starring Daniel Webber ( The Punisher), Mark Leonard Winter ( The Dressmaker), Ian Hart ( Mary Queen of Scots), and Stephen Hunter ( The Hobbit trilogy), the film looks to join the ranks of other great prison escape movies.
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