Cry, the Beloved Country (1995 film) Cry, the Beloved Country (1995 film) Cry, the Beloved Country is a 1995 South African-American drama film directed by Darrell Roodt, based on the novel "Cry, the Beloved Country" by Alan Paton. It stars James Earl Jones and Richard Harris. The film was made in 1995, shortly after the fall of apartheid and the free election of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa. Set in South Africa in October 1946, before the implementation of apartheid, this is the story of church minister Steven Kumalo who is requested from his village to Johannesburg. There he discovers that his son Absolom
Cry, the Beloved Country the priest who sent him the letter, and given comfortable lodging by Mrs. Lithebe, a Christian woman who feels that helping others is her duty. Kumalo visits Gertrude, who is now a prostitute and liquor seller, and persuades her to come back to Ndotsheni with her young son. A more difficult quest follows, when Kumalo and Msimangu begin searching the labyrinthine metropolis of Johannesburg for Absalom. They visit Kumalo's brother, John, who has become a successful businessman and politician, and he directs them to the factory where his son and Absalom once worked together. One clue leads to another, and