'Escape From Pretoria': Film Review

'Escape From Pretoria': Film Review

by John DeFore, THR

03/05/2020

Daniel Radcliffe plays an imprisoned anti-apartheid activist in Francis Annan's jailbreak drama.

White anti-apartheid activists escape from not-quite-Alcatraz in Escape From Pretoria, Francis Annan's account of a real 1979 jailbreak in South Africa. Their cause was righteous and their methods ingenious, but as tension mounts in this film's telling, one starts to wonder: Why don't they just bonk that lone, incompetent nighttime jailer on his head and use his keys to spring all their comrades from the pen as well? Star Daniel Radcliffe will be the biggest draw here, but the pic's focus on planning and genre mechanics over personalities may limit its appeal for his fans.