7

Arts/Review

_ Film homag

A WORLD APART. With Barbara Her-
Shey, Jodhi May. Screenplay by Shawn

Slovo. Directed by Chris Menges. At local
theatres.

_ When anti-apartheid fighter Ruth First
died in a blast from a letter bomb in
f Ozambique six years ago, South Africa’s
ascist terrorists managed to do physically
What they could not do spiritually to a cour-
ae Communist more than two decades

Few of us have lost parents in such a
ae and outrageous manner, and even

ewer would have the skill and dedication to
Pay them tribute with such a lasting
Memento as has Shawn Slovo in her film A
World Apart.

The daughter of First and Joe Slovo —
NOW general secretary of the South African

mMmunist Party — Shawn Slovo changes
lamily names, but probably not much else,
in this compelling and moving story of a
ne aed of white progressives persecuted by

€ apartheid regime in 1963.

In A World Apart, Molly Roth (Jodhi

ay) is on the threshold of her teenage
years in 1963 South Africa. It is three years
after the infamous Sharpville Massacre that

tought the racist-ruled nation to interna-
tional attention and outrage. In the after-
math of the state-sanctioned murder, the
itican National Congress is the leading

Orce behind a series of groundswell anti-
apartheid eruptions that disturb the placid
Scenes of trimmed lawns and tree lined
Streets in whites-only suburbia.

Molly wants things most kids her age
Want. She indulges a youthful passion for
Spanish dancing with her best friend, and
both girls gleefully dance the twist to the
Song of the same name (by Afro-American
entertainer Chubby Checker, whose record-
€d voice rings out over the unconcerned
Neighbourhood in what must be conscious
itony on the part of the film makers).

But life for Molly is also markedly differ-
ent from that of her friends. In the opening
Scene her father Gus (Jeroen Krabb) bids
the family farewell in the middle of the night
to embark on a journey of unmentioned
destination and longevity. We never see him
again.

_ That leaves the burden of raising the fam-
ily to Molly’s mother Diana (Barbara Her-
shey), aided by her own mother. But Diana,
Whose main job is working at an apparently

clandestine newspaper, seldom has much
time for the children — even when Molly
shows signs of awareness of the injustices of
apartheid and interest in her parents’ politi-
cal activities. Her questions are met with
terse, uninformative answers from a
woman who appears the embodiment of
cold detachment.

But there are reasons for Diana’s distan-

ces, which are shown in several tension- ~

filled scenes and which come crashing home
when the police force their way into the
family house and drag her off to prison
under a newly proclaimed 90-day detention-
without-charges act.

After this, the film follows two parallel
stories: that of Diana, whose iron will helps
her resist the psychological (and occasion-
ally physical) torments of her captors who
are trying to uncover names of Communists
and ANC activists; and the story of Molly,
who struggles to cope with suddenly van-
ished friendships and other injustices in a
world that has changed without telling her
why.

But to some extent life’s vicissitudes are
compensated for through Molly’s growing
friendship with the Roths’ black domestic
workerand her family — most notably her
brother Solomon (Albee Lesotho), an ANC
activist who gives Molly a ribbon bearing
the organization’s green, black and gold
colours.

Comparisons with Cry Freedom, Richard
Attenborough’s remarkable tribute to mar-
tyred Black Consciousness leader Steven
Biko and exiled white journalist Donald
Woods, are bound to be made. Both con-
tain funeral scenes at which stirring libera-
tion anthems are sung by people of both
races. Both deal with the horrors of apar-
theid as seen primarily through the eyes of
white people.

But lacking the grandeur of Attenbo-
rough’s film, A World Apart will likely con-
tinue to play to small audiences. Yet it is an
equally valid film, and perhaps better with
its realistic depiction of the state forces per-
secuting both white and black South Afri-
can liberationists, its frank sympathies for
the ANC’s Communist Party supporters,
and its revelation (for many) that opposi-
tion to state racism runs deep in South Afri-
ca’s white society.

The title of this film, which is frequently
emotional but never falsely so in showing
the cruel but necessary deprivations suf-

fered by those who risk ostracism and death
to make a better world, has many meanings.
Two of those “worlds apart” are at least
partly reconciled following a confrontation
between Molly and her mother. A World
Apart leaves us with the feeling that despite

e to fighters of apartheid

adversity and setbacks, those other separate
worlds — between whites and non-whites,
and between a country isolated because of
its racial policies and the broader world —
will also be reconciled. :

— Dan Keeton

Classified Advertising

COMING EVENTS

SEPT. 9 —Centre for Socialist Education
lounge open 8 p.m. til midnight (every Friday).
Darts, music and conversation. 1726 E. Hast-
ings. Bar proceeds to CSE.

SEPT. 9,10,11 — ! Wasn’t Born Here. Stories
of Latin American Immigrant Women. A collec-
tive creation directed by Lina de Guevara.
8 p.m. Kitsilano Neighbourhood House, 2325
W. 7th. Also Sept. 10 at James Cowan Theatre,
6450 Gilpin St. Burnaby. 8 p.m. and Sept. 11 at
Vancouvr East Cultural Centre, 1895 Venables.
7 p.m. For more info. 525-0089/432-7157 or
430-0329. Organized by The Chilean Com-
munity Assoc. of B.C.

KAMLOOPS
SEPT. 14 — Marxist-Leninist discussion
group, open to all on 2nd Wed. of each month.
7:30 p.m. at North Kamloops Library. For info
376-7110.

1 -5 p.m. Mon. to Fri. For information on political
issues or assistance in political activity.

HALLS FOR RENT

RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME — Available for
rentals. For reservations phone 254-3430.

UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CULTURAL
CENTRE — 805 East Pender St. Vancouver.
Available for banquets, weddings, meetings.
Phone 254-3436.

- Classified advertising rates $1.25 per line per

week. Deadline for insertions: Wednesday of
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Lots of labour and progressive literature for —

your reading enjoyment at no cost. For info
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DIRECTORY

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Phone: 254-9836. Office hours: 9:30-12 noon;

ee

The experiences of immigrant Latin
Americans come to the stage in the Lower
Mainland in September with the presenta-
tion of the play, I Wasn’t Born Here.

Presented by The Chilean Community
Association of B.C., the play features six
Latin American women including the
author, Chilean immigrant and actress
Lina de Guevara.

Originally presented at the Belfry Thea-
tre in Victoria, I Wasn’t Born Here plays
Sept. 9 at Kitsilano Neighbourhood House,
8 p.m., on Sept. 10 at the James Cowan

- Theatre in Burnaby, 8 p.m., and at the
Vancouver East Cultural Centre on Sept.
11 at 7 p.m. The suggested admission isa
$5 donation.

The play won supportive reviews in the
Victoria press for its impassioned telling,
through the mainly amateur actors, of
what it is like to be an stranger ina foreign
country, Guevara, who arrived in Canada
in 1976, declares herself “a firm believer in
the power of the theatre to bring about
social change and transform people’s
lives,”

The company, called Puente (bridge), is

funded in part by Canada Employment
and Immigration. The play in Vancouver
is sponsored by the Congress of Canadian
Women, Langara Women’s Steering Com-
mittee, and Canadians for Democracy in
Chile.

Fee Fert

Headlines Theatre, which brought B.C.
audiences plays such as Under the Gun
and NO XYA (Our Footprints), also pres-
ents the immigrant and refugee story in
Power Play, which runs as part of the
Fringe Festival ‘88 Sept. 14-15 and 16-18 at
7 p.m.

Power Play involves a unique theatrical
experiment where members of the aud-
ience, having first viewed the play in its
entirety, are treated to a reprise in which
members can stop the action and help
solve the problems it raises by participat-
ing on stage. The production will also fea-
ture a phone-in live telecast on Cable 4 on
Sept. 24 at 8 p.m.

hse

The Association of United Ukrainian

Play tells story of immigrant women

Canadians’ cultural groups will perform
along with guest artists from the Ukraine
at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 805 E.
Pender St. in Vancouver on Sept. 17 at a
6:30 p.m. banquet.

The event follows the official opening of
Lesya Ukrainka Manor for senior citizens,
next door to the centre at 875 E. Pender St.
at 1 p.m. the same day. For tickets phone
253-8642.

x oe o *

Several Soviet artists and performers
will be part of a concert and reception
co-sponsored by the Federation of Russian
Canadians and the Canada-USSR Friend-
ship Society on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m.
in the Russian People’s Home, 600 Camp-
bell Ave., Vancouver.

The artists and performers are members
of prominent groups from several repub-
lics of the Soviet Union. Tickets are $10
per individual and can be obtained by
phoning 253-8180, 526-5160, 255-4160,
731-3048 or 253-3032.

“Group parties of 15-25 welcome”!

New Titles
DICTIONARY OF
CANADIAN HISTORY
(1867-PRESENT):
1600 entries on polit-
ics, labour, sports, etc.

$24.95
(hardcover)

FISHING WITH JOHN:
Story of John Daly,
member of the fisher-
men’s union.

By Edith Iglauer

$24.95
(hardcover)

Some autographed
copies available.

Mail orders please include
O¢ per book.

1391 COMMERCIAL DRIVE
VANCOUVER, B.C. V5L_3X5
TELEPHONE 253-6442

Pacific Tribune, September 7, 1988 « 7

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