Popular reviews

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  Review by Blaze the Action Junkie ★½

  This film takes the entire 105 minute runtime to tell a story that could've been told in 80 minutes easily. That being said there are long stretches of the film that does little to advance the plot, or anything really. Most of these boring stretches seemed to be attempts at building the characters and their relationships at least, so it wasn't entirely devoid of value. Yet I was only mildly entertained by most of it. I was expecting more from the ending, but at least there were a few sequences there in the last act that entertained. It's easily considered a bad film, but I do think it can still find some appreciation in folks that enjoy these class conflict stories.

  1981 Ranked
  1980’s Ranked
  Dramas Ranked

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  Review by Adam ★★½

  I’m waiting for my certificate for watching a film that has less than 5 reviews and 30 members on the app! Call me! 

  But about the movie... it’s very fine. Aggressively fine, actually. Pretty standard adaptation of a novel that shouldn’t be adapted. Nothing to see here.

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  Review by cineurbe

  Mary and Dick
  (for the Colonial expatriates)
  Master Tanner and Madam
  (for the Mission-educated natives) find each other, where they obviously can, and its segregated possibilities make it almost inevitable to do so (Southern Africa-1960)
  Townie Mary (Karen Black) and enterprising dreamer Dick (John Thaw) make an impulsive fragile bond, and give the Zambian outback farmlife, a honest and blind go.
  Marriage prospects and failed crops, give way to bouts of malaria shakes, infidelity and mental breakdown.
  Convincing and comendable performances (John Kani plays Moses) within an uneven narrative structure, help this drama, to not drift far from its grounded plot points, but its Karen Black once again who steals the limelight with tragic proportions, where the grass was always…

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  Review by B ★★½

  Movie has an aggressively boring first half that is literally coasting on the gorgeous cinematography and watching Karen Black chew scenery.

  Definitely suffers from simplifying the Apartheid problem by labeling some of colonialists as the "good ones" but it does feature some rather good nuance and decent shades of grey. Wasn't really expecting some of the stuff in the back half. I don't know if I will ever watch again but was interesting to see.

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  Review by J P L ★★★

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  I didn't enjoy this film too much. I feel like it's suffering from too short a running time for the story it is trying to tell. It is extremely hard to tell when and how much time passes. I have to imagine that I would appreciate it more after reading the book. The style of the film does not aspire to be masterful, but it does accomplish a feeling of tension by juxtaposing its claustrophobic interiors with its sweltering exteriors. This sets up the relief of its ending scene.

  Karen Black gives a ferocious and extremely physical performance. This is one of those roles that she completely transforms in. Her character is nothing like her glamorous roles. She is ruthless and cold to her husband's workers, but always with a hint of sadness and humanity underneath. Her ability to convey madness is astounding. The depth of her performance really elevates this fairly mediocre film.