Sam Neill was originally cast as Goldberg, in May 2017. The film is an Australia-UK co-production, co-financed by Arclight Films, New York-based Magna Entertainment and with the assistance of the South Australian Film Corporation. The film was written and directed by Francis Annan. Tim Jenkin as a prisoner in the prison waiting room ( extra, non-speaking role).Mark Leonard Winter as Leonard Fontaine (character based on Alex Moumbaris).In 1992, a year after Jenkin, Lee and Fontaine's exoneration, apartheid ended. Goldberg was finally freed in 1985 after spending 22 years in prison. The three would continue their protests against apartheid under the African National Congress Party they were ultimately pardoned in 1991. It transpires that the biggest manhunt ensued in the aftermath, but they managed to escape to London via Mozambique, and Tanzania. They leave the prison and find a taxi driven by a black driver to take them out of Pretoria after offering him cash. They cannot get any of the keys to work on this door, but Fontaine breaks it open using a chisel and screwdriver. Goldberg short-circuits the light in his cell, causing the electricity to go out and calls for the guard, distracting him so that the trio can reach the last door. Unexpectedly, the night guard comes back to the closet. Once again, they hide in the closet to evade the night guard. They gather keys hidden in various areas and change into previously smuggled street clothes. Jenkin, Lee and Fontaine execute their plan. He, Fontaine and Lee present their plan to Goldberg and other prisoners who decide against trying to escape with them. Later, Jenkin discovers that a new gun tower is being built. The guards search everyone's cells the next day but fail to find anything. They use another key to leave the cell block, but they have to run back to their cells before they can use another key. They hide in a closet as the night guard walks by. Lee and Jenkin bury these keys in the prison garden while tending it and make many other preparations for their escape.įontaine and Jenkin do a test run by using keys to leave their cells. He sneaks around the prison at night, making keys for other locks. He steals items from the wood shop to make wooden keys that fit the locks to their cells. They settle in and go about their daily routines, but Jenkin starts to analyze the prison and think of ways to escape. Jenkin and Lee discuss escaping with another prisoner, Leonard Fontaine. He shows them the ropes but discourages them from trying to escape. Transported to Pretoria Prison, they meet Denis Goldberg, an older political prisoner serving four life sentences for previous work against apartheid. At the courthouse Lee attempts to escape but to no avail. They are arrested on the spot and prosecuted Jenkin is sentenced to twelve years and Lee is sentenced to eight. In 1979, Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee two white South Africans, are carrying out anti-apartheid missions in South Africa. It was filmed in Adelaide, South Australia, in early 2019, both on location in the city and suburbs and in the Glenside studios of the South Australian Film Corporation. It is based on the 2003 book Inside Out: Escape from Pretoria Prison by Tim Jenkin, one of the escapees. He is evidently based on the Egyptian-born French national, Alex Moumbaris, with whom the men actually broke out, although it isn’t clear why his character has been fictionalised and the others not.Escape from Pretoria is a 2020 Australian prison film co-written and directed by Francis Annan, based on the real-life prison escape by three political prisoners in South Africa in 1979, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Daniel Webber. Inside, Jenkin and Lee meet another political prisoner and future escaper: Frenchman Leonard Fontaine (a slightly hammy turn from Mark Leonard Winter). Their prison is tough, but as they are white, it is not as tough it might have been. With long hair and straggly beard, Daniel Radcliffe plays Jenkin and Daniel Webber plays his fellow ANC activist Stephen Lee, imprisoned in 1978 for their “leaflet bombs” – firecracker-type devices left in the street which send blizzards of leaflets flying. The film has something pleasingly traditional about it, with tense nailbiting moments, slab-faced guards, and touches of The Great Escape and Papillon. The rather amazing true story of the white ANC activist Tim Jenkin and his audacious escape from Pretoria Prison in apartheid-era South Africa is told in this capable and well-carpentered movie from British film-maker Francis Annan, adapted from Jenkin’s own book.
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