A World Apart is a 1988 anti-apartheid drama film and directed by Chris Menges and starring Barbara Hershey, David Suchet, Jeroen Krabbé, Paul Freeman, Tim Roth, and Jodhi May. Written by Shawn Slovo, it is based on the lives of Slovo's parents, Ruth First and Joe Slovo. The film was a co-production between companies from the UK and Zimbabwe, where it was filmed. It features Hans Zimmer's first non-collaborative film score.
The film received acclaim, winning BAFTA Awards for Best Screenplay for Shawn Slovo and Best Supporting Actor for David Suchet, as well as the Special Grand Prize of the Jury at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.
Plot
Set in Johannesburg in 1963, the film examines the abrupt ending of 13-year-old Molly's blithe childhood when her father, a member of the South African Communist Party, flees into exile. Ostracised by her peers, Molly draws closer to her mother who is part of the campaign against apartheid. Their relationship is challenged by hardship, political intimidation, and the mother's eventual arrest.
The film title references both the gap between the mother and her teenage girl, who fails to grasp why their family is so fixated with events beyond their comfortable white suburb, and another separating this world from that of South Africa's poverty-stricken black townships.
Essentially, the film is a tribute to Ruth First by her daughter and concludes in a moment of epiphany as Molly comes to terms with her mother's activism and understands that she too must play a part in the struggle against racial injustice.
Cast
Reception
The film opened at Cinema 1 in New York City on 17 June 1988.
A World Apart has an overall approval rating of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes from 11 critics.
The film was placed on 40 critics' top ten lists, making it one of the most acclaimed films of 1988.
Box office
The film grossed $20,815 in its opening weekend in New York and $35,835 (£21,200) for the week. Two months later it opened at the Curzon West End in London and sold out for the week, with a gross of £43,167. It went on to gross $8 million worldwide, including $2,326,800 in the United States and Canada and £800,000 at the UK box office.