Cry, the Beloved Country (1951 film) courage and skill of Mr. Korda in transmitting such a difficult and sobering theme." Cry, the Beloved Country (1951 film) Cry, the Beloved Country is a 1951 British drama film directed by Zoltán Korda. Based on the novel of the same name by Alan Paton, it stars Canada Lee, Sidney Poitier, and Charles Carson. This film was Canada Lee's last film. From the back country of South Africa, black minister Stephen Kumalo (Canada Lee) journeys to Johannesburg to help his sister, who has been reported to be ill, and to search for his son, who left home and has not
Cry, the Beloved Country American writer Maxwell Anderson and music composed by the German emigre Kurt Weill. In the remote village of Ndotsheni, in the Natal province of eastern South Africa, the Reverend Stephen Kumalo receives a letter from a fellow minister summoning him to Johannesburg. He is needed there, the letter says, to help his sister, Gertrude, who the letter says has fallen ill. Kumalo undertakes the difficult and expensive journey to the city in the hopes of aiding Gertrude and of finding his son, Absalom, who traveled to Johannesburg from Ndotsheni and never returned. In Johannesburg, Kumalo is warmly welcomed by Msimangu,