A sad commentary about apartheid
Adapted from the novel by Alan Paton, this 1951 film is set in South Africa and is a sad commentary about apartheid. It stars Canada Lee as a native aging Christian priest, who travels to Johannesburg in search of his sister and his son. He finds that his sister is a prostitute and his son is missing. After a long search with the help of his fellow priest, played by Sidney Poitier, they discover that his son is involved in a murder of a white man. Charles Carson plays the father of the murdered man, a bigot who changes his views as he reads some of his own son's writings about the inhumanity of apartheid. There is a major scene when he and murderer's father, both grieving, come face to face.

Sidney Poitier is listed as a star but his role was actually quite small. He became star years later but his name on a video box does bring instant recognition. The theme is a good one and so is the story and the acting is superb.I did enjoy it but found it a bit slow and hard to follow. Perhaps it was the editing or just the way the film was transferred to video but it distracted from the high drama. It is worthwhile seeing, of course, and it was done well, but it just didn't grab me enough to give it my highest recommendation.

Still a riveting movie
The subjects covered in this movie are still of great concern in today's world. It is well worth seeing. Makes one much more compassionate--makes one want to do somthing about African and world problems.

A heart breaking story of South Africa in the 1950's
This movie tells the parallel stories of an old black priest and a old white farmer who leave their rural communities to travel to Johannesburg and the tragedies that draw them there. While the story is a moving portrait of that troubled time and place, it is still chillingly current. An encounter between the two men when they discover the extent to which their lives (and the lives of their sons) are related could as easily be about two men meeting in Colorado today. I wonder if today's fathers would do as well.