The Power of One (film)

The Power of One is a 1992 American drama film based on Bryce Courtenay's 1989 novel The Power of One. Set in South Africa during World War II, the film centers on the life of Peter Philip 'Peekay or PK' Kenneth-Keith, an English South African boy raised under apartheid, and his conflicted relationships with a German pianist, a Coloured boxing coach and an Afrikaner romantic interest. Directed and edited by John G. Avildsen, the film stars Stephen Dorff, John Gielgud, Morgan Freeman, Armin Mueller-Stahl and featured (a then-unknown) Daniel Craig in his film debut.

Plot
Born in 1930 to a recently widowed Englishwoman on a homestead in rural Natal, little Peter Philip (Guy Witcher) is schooled in the ways of England by his mother and the ways of Africa by a Zulu nanny (Nomadlozi Kubheka), whose son Tonderai is also his best friend. Their easy life is forever shattered, however, when the farm's cattle are claimed by rinderpest. PK's mother succumbs to a nervous breakdown, and he is sent away to a conservative Afrikaans boarding school while she recovers.

Being the only English student at the boarding school, PK soon earns almost universal contempt from his scathing Afrikaner fellows—particularly an older student, Jaapie Botha. Botha's abuse and his inferiority complex strikes PK with a severe case of nocturnal enuresis, a habit which he eventually overcomes with local sangoma Dabula Manzi. In conquering his nightmares, PK is given a chicken (Mother Courage), which becomes his closest companion. Botha subsequently captures PK and Mother Courage and has them tried before a mock court while elaborating on the depth of his hatred for the British&mdash;a people he holds responsible for atrocities committed during the Second Boer War. The Afrikaans boys hang Mother Courage and kill her with a rock. When PK physically retaliates against Botha, they attempt to execute him in a similar manner but are interrupted by a teacher who later oversees Botha's expulsion.

With his mother dying, PK finds himself living with his grandfather in Barberton. He eventually seeks a mentor in Karl "Doc" von Vollensteen (Armin Mueller-Stahl), a lonely German musician who lost his family in Europe. Doc warms to PK and under his guidance the latter soon becomes an excellent pianist. He is interned as an enemy alien at the onset of World War II, but PK continues to visit him regularly in prison. Doc introduces the boy to Geel Piet (Morgan Freeman), a Cape Coloured inmate who takes von Vollensteen's place as PK's mentor, training him to be an excellent boxer. Piet also impresses on PK his mantra: "first with the head, then with the heart", a phrase that will see the young man through even greater hard times ahead.

A maturing PK (Simon Fenton) begins to express sympathy towards black prisoners, who are detained under appalling conditions. He works with Doc to distribute contraband among the Africans, writing their letters to home, and sharing their many sufferings. The war does not end happily for PK, as Doc is repatriated and Piet&mdash;seriously injured by a white warder&mdash;fails to survive his sentence. PK is sent away again, this time to study at the prestigious Prince of Wales School in Johannesburg. While attending a boxing championship, he is enamoured by Maria Marais, daughter of a leading National Party official. Since her strict father will not permit them to see each other openly, they begin dating in secret. On one such outing they are introduced to Gideon Duma, a prominent boxer in Alexandra, a notorious black township. Duma's passion for resisting apartheid inspires PK, and he begins teaching English at a rural African school.

Maria's father, incensed by the couple's ongoing relationship and PK's ties to a multiracial gym, leads him to request a formal investigation by one of his South African Police contacts, Colonel Breyten. Breyten and his sergeant, an embittered Jaapie Botha, place PK under surveillance for subversion. His clashes with the SAP finally come to a head when Maria is killed during a raid on a biracial church by the security forces. Maddened by grief, PK considers fleeing to England, but is consoled by his former boxing partner, who reminds him of all the good he can still do in Africa.

Botha leads a violent raid on Alexandra the following night. He threatens to shoot Elias Mlungisi, the local boxing promoter, only to be confronted by PK. They spar; PK easily bests his childhood enemy. Botha is still bent on executing the erstwhile victor, but an arriving Gideon Duma dispatches the policeman with a cricket bat before he can fire and fractures his skull. Now fugitives from the apartheid government, PK and Duma vow to continue a campaign against racial injustice. Peter's closing narration identifies meaningful voices during his life; from mother and nanny, to Doc and Dabula Manzi, Geel Piet and, finally, Maria Marais.

Cast

 * Guy Witcher as PK at age 7
 * Simon Fenton as PK at age 12
 * Stephen Dorff as PK at age 18
 * Armin Mueller-Stahl as Doc
 * Jeremiah Mnisi as Dabula Manzi
 * Ian Roberts as Hoppie Gruenewald
 * John Gielgud as St. John, the Headmaster
 * Fay Masterson as Maria Marais
 * Morgan Freeman as Geel Piet
 * Daniel Craig as Sergeant Jaapie Botha
 * Robbie Bulloch as the teenage Botha
 * Dominic Walker as Morrie Gilbert
 * Alois Moyo as Gideon Duma
 * Brian O'Shaughnessy as Colonel Breyten
 * Marius Weyers as Professor Daniel Marais
 * Clive Russell as Sergeant Bormann
 * Winston Ntshona as Mlungisi
 * Nomadlozi Kubheka as Nanny
 * Mark Clements as school boy

Critical reception
The film received mixed reviews. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes currently ranks the film at a 39% 'rotten' rating, based on 18 reviews. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it two and a half stars out of four, stating that the nature of troubles of South Africa "are too complex to be reduced to a formula in which everything depends on who shoots who", but did add "there are some nice touches," such as the locations and Gielgud's performance.

Morgan Freeman confirmed in an interview that the film "wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be."