Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Nonureva Really Surprised!

GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

robinsonaustin-07490 One movie I remember watching was called The Power of One. It was a 1992 film that was based on the novel of the same name by Bryce Courtney. I remember in high school how I had to read that book as a part of the curriculum. The book concerned a young boy named PK (Peekay). PK was a young English-speaking South African boy who was sent to this boarding school after his mother had a nervous breakdown. To say that the experience was bad is an understatement. he gets confronted by a ruthless bully named Jaapie Botha, an Afrikaner who despises people of English descent due to some past war. As you would've guessed, he treats PK like trash throughout his stay at the school, even to the point of killing his pet chicken. Eventually, PK becomes interested with becoming the top heavyweight boxer in the world. We follow the story from his humble beginnings as we watch him inch his way up. For the book as much as I don't like some of the books I am made to read as part of the criteria, I did find myself liking the book. However, I remember my teacher saying to stay away from the film adaptation as it was nothing like the book. And she was right. While the movie was by no means bad, I felt that it missed the point of the book by making it into some generic la resistance movie. A major recurring element in the film adaptation is the Apartheid, which was kind of like how segregation was like over in the US but slightly worse. While the Apartheid was mentioned in the novel, it didn't play as much of a crucial role as PK wanting to become the top heavyweight champion was his continual goal. In fact, in the movie, he hardly brought up being a heavyweight champion as his primary goal. Instead, it gets pushed to the side so PK could try to take down the rulers of the Apartheid regime. With Jaapie Botha, his role slightly changes as well. In the film, he is still deeply prejudiced against PK because of his English descent and kills his pet chicken, but here, he actually gets kicked out of school rather than finishing it like in the book. In the film, he becomes a sergeant for the villainous Colonel Breyton, so that actually makes Jaapie a little more intimidating than his book counterpart who doesn't as much as get that kind of high position. As for changes, while I do understand that some changes and revisions must be made when adapting a novel into a film, here, I ultimately found myself loathing the changes. From the more stupid, I personally hated the fact that they decided to rename PK's pet chicken to Mother Courage. Just why? Why was this necessary? As I said making the film into a typical fight the power flick is doing the book some real disservice, and then you have the cliched romantic relationship that PK had, which doesn't even last long as she gets killed during an attack by Jaapie and his men. The worst change that I utterly despised, however, was PK's relationship with Doc. In the book, Doc was kind of like a father figure to PK as he mentored him. Really, Doc contributed a lot to making PK the man he was now. In the book, he gets arrested because of being an illegal immigrant, and it was traumatizing for poor PK; he even got his lower jaw broken as he tried to stop them from taking Doc. Eventually Doc returned and continued to teach PK before he died. In the film, however, he never came back. To me, it came off as just insulting. It really angered me because they made it seem like PK's relationship with Doc was nonessential to the whole story when that clearly wasn't the case. Aside from other differences between works, I didn't find them as problematic as this one. Overall, not a bad film, but it is a poor adaptation that relies on a cliche action plot, has poorly developed characters, and is overall the Power of One in anything but name.

existenz48162 From what I have seen on comments, people either loved the book and hated the movie or loved them both. Well, I have never read the book and do not intend to read it, especially after reading other comments about the differences between the two.Personally, I would prefer not to read a story about yet another whiteman-sob story about how much whitefolk struggle on their own and the power he has to fulfill his dreams (at least that's how one reviewer made the book sound). I like the Hollywood adaptation that makes it about how one person can affect others and how their will surpasses themselves.Plus, Morgan Freeman rocks it out as Geel Pete.

woozoo I have read the book. For me, it was a sentimental journey. A chance, to relive the past, my past, a journey worth re-visiting.This movie, is propaganda. And it is built on the worst type of propaganda, that which revolves around being Politically Correct, while at the same time avoiding any truth. The original book is based on complete tragedy. Only the book can convey to you the reader, the losses that PK felt. This movie is such an insult, I shall always tell people to read the book, and to avoid the movie. Any and all the bare any love to me that they may profess, will honour my wishes. This movie, is based on the book, but in very few ways reflects the book, or it's author.This movie does not reflect the book. This movie, even though it stars such wonderful actors as Morgan Freeman, a man, that I personally love, is not worth anything.Read the book. Avoid the movie.

YesISaidOi this movie was fairly good, i watched it in my Africa through film class and it didn't completely suck but it was very over dramatic. It has way to many Disney characteristics to be a very good movie. Unlike the guys comment above this, if you put more famous actors in it, no matter how many it still wouldn't win an Oscar, but it was fairly descent showing the ugly side of humanity, but they still portrayed the Africans as being somewhat helpless. Although they wanted to help themselves and they wanted to learn to read and write English, it still portrayed them as being to weak to do it alone so they need the whites to do it not many movies about Africa portray they whites as weak but they all seem to show the blacks as somewhat inferior. I really think they need to work on fixing that. However if you are looking for a good film about based in Africa get the movie Somewhere In Africa. Its a foreign film with subtitles. Its a true story about a Jewish family who leaves Germany in about 1937 because they feel something bad is going to happen soon. It is based around the daughter and how she adapts to Africa and how here parents begin to separate emotionally (and physically) its a very good movie i recommend that any day above the power of one, but if you really wanna see The Power Of One, its not worth not seeing.