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 (1951 film) characters are in order as listed by the British Film Institute. Zoltan Korda's acclaimed smash film was shot entirely in South Africa. Since the country was ruled by strict apartheid (enforced racial separation) laws, stars Sidney Poitier and Canada Lee and producer/director Korda cooked up a scheme where they told the South African immigration authorities that Poitier and Lee were not actors but were Korda's indentured servants; otherwise, the two black actors and the white director could have been arrested, and jailed without trial. It marked the first time a major film was shot in the racially divided country, leading