A Far Off Place (1993)

Vast Mis-Representation of Laurens van der Post

The novels of Laurens van der Post were based in the deeper reality of the African bush of the times of his writings. From the very beginning this film is untrue of his novels. Lonnie from the books, was a young boy-man who was a hunter of the first order, but based in the honor of code of the bush and its ways. Lonnie was never in the bush without his gun. In the movie the character does not have a rifle. Without Lonnie's own bush prowess, they, including the bushman would not have survived the ordeal of the African political factions and conditions of the forced initiations into manhood that he was faced with. Lonnie was a classical hero in every sense of the word and was never a twittering kid type as portrayed in the move. In van der Post's books Lonnie was forced to kill men to survive. Childen of a young age will like this film... its fairy tale, not reality. Those who respect the profound depth of van der Post's writing will be betrayed by this film. May 20, 2008

...a charming story for all ages!

Reese Witherspoon rocked in this movies as a young teen in Africa standing up for her family's values for the preservation of the magestic elephant. All in the name of greed the poachers killing these magnificent animals just for their ivory tusks. This movie made me laugh,get angry and cry. April 21, 2008

Read the books instead

This film is interesting and somewhat effective as a piece of cinema. That said, its story is so far removed from van der Post's indiosyncratic novels (upon which the film is ostensibly based) as to be almost unrecognizable. Only one connection to the two novels remains: both the film and the books are set in Africa. Beyond that, just about every other element of the books' narratives has been changed, usually so that the film follows some shallow Hollywood plotline, but at the expense of van der Post's encyclopedic knowledge and love of Bushman life and culture. As a result, the film is watchable, but its destruction of the novels is almost as complete as the razing of Hunters Drift by poachers in the film version. December 2, 2007

An endearing story

I remembered watching this movie a long time ago as a kid, which is why I decided to buy it, so many years later.

Long story short, the movie is just as good as I remembered it to be. While the story is cliche at times, and simplistic in some ways, the character interactions is what makes this film shine.

It also gives you a glimpse of a young Reese Whiterspoon, and you can clearly see her developing talent.

August 9, 2007

A Far Off Place

This is such a heartwarming movie, great for the whole family, yet a love story for all us girls! January 10, 2007

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