Ended up watching Cry, The Beloved Country (1995) starring James Earl Jones & Richard Harris (Marcus Aurelius in Gladiator, Dumbledore in Harry Potter).

I watched it in light of the recent controversy over the US importing a few dozen Boer South African refugees.

The movie is based on a 1948 novel of the same name, written by Alan Paton, a White Christian African anti-apartheid activist. It's considered a classic and one of the first examples of South African literature. The fictional tale is set in 1946 and was published in 1948, a year before apartheid officially was instituted.

I remember it being assigned reading in high school, but remembered absolutely nothing other than it being set in Africa.

Anyway, the TL:DR is that the movie's plot is complete dogshit. It makes no sense why it's a classic.

It reminded me of a fusion of To Kill a Mockingbird & Austin Metcalf/Karmelo Anthony & Metcalf's racecucked father

James Earl Jones plays a 60 y/o rural South African preacher. His family members keep leaving for Johannesburg one-by-one to look for each other like a horror movie and never returning. This includes his sister, his son (so I guess he's not Catholic), his brother-in-law, etc. Family members move to the city then eventually stop writing.

One day, a letter arrives from a Johannesburg priest informing him his sister is very ill & to come at once. He takes the train to the city to the seminary, only to meet the priest who informs him that he actually lied. That his sister isn't ill, she's just an alcoholic prostitute turning tricks around her young son. Jones finds her at the brothel and strongarms her to go home to their village, but instead she flees leaving her son behind.

Then Jones starts looking for his missing son Absalom that went to the city to look for his aunt. Jones follows clues with the help of the Johannesburg priest, discovering that his son over the last year has gone to jail & been released, got a nigress pregnant & now roams around in a gang doing B&Es.

One morning at the Johannesburg seminary, everyone is talking about a young White man who was killed by a black gang during a B&E at his home. The slain White guy was a White saviour type running an athletic Boys & Girls type club for young black men. Jones reads in the paper that the slain man's White father owns an estate back near the village where Jones has his church.

Jones soon learns that his son was arrested for the White Boys & Girls Club guy's B&E murder with two other blacks.

The White guy's father from Jones' village is portrayed as being curmudgeonly & racist in the scenes leading up to this point. Richard Harris is informed by the cops of his son's death & flies to Johannesburg to identify the body.

There's a MacGuffin at the start of the movie where a parishioner asks Jones as he's departing the train station for Johannesburg if he'll go to an address and inquire about another missing daughter.

Jones' son is arrested and arraigned for murder. The MacGuffin comes into play that Jones goes to the address to look for the parishioner's missing daughter before the trial is over. The address turns out to be the home of the deceased son's in-laws and Richard Harris is there.

Jones recognizes Harris from the arraignment & starts sniveling & crying. Harris is somehow miraculously cured of his racism and is completely full of mirth when Jones informs him he's the father of Harris' son's killer.

Harris gets the in-laws to inform Jones that the parishioner's daughter was fired for being a drunk criminal. Harris & Jones thank each other and exchange pleasantries.

The trial continues. Jones' son Absalom is found guilty of murder and sentenced to be hung.

Jones' main concern is having his son marry his pregnant baby momma to make an honest woman of her before he is hung. So he arranges a marriage ceremony on death row.

Jones returns home before the hanging, hoping for mercy for his son. Harris is overjoyed when the local nigresses hoot & holler when their preacher returns.

One day, after a long drought, torrential rain begins. Harris gets caught in the rain on his horse in the downpour near Jones' church. He asks permission to shelter there as the rain continues to leak through the holes in the church roof. They mostly stare at each other in silence and exchange pleasantries while waiting out the storm. Harris asks if Jones knows if his capital punishment will be stayed. Jones informs him that his son will be hung in 15 days. Harris leaves saying he'll be thinking of Jones' murderous son on that day.

Judgment day comes 15 days later. Jones departs to hike up into the mountains to pray. Harris intercepts him halfway up on his horse with a promise letter to build Jones' congregation a new church with a cornerstone for his son.

Jones hikes to the top. His nigger son gets hung.

The End.

The literary criticism I read about the novel & movie talked about how the main narratives were "fear". The Whites are being victimized by "native crime" and the Zulu are somehow being victimized by the Whites & systemic racism that ??? has them keep migrating to the city from their home tribes to....become alcoholic, prostitutes, philanderers, murderers, gang members & thieves.....

The movie didn't even actually show any examples of White supremacy. Richard Harris is just some crusty old guy asking why his son isn't coming to see him on his family's vacation and instead is wasting time setting up Social Clubs for blacks (who soon break in & murder him in his own home).

The police & prison guards are shown as White & stern, but are never actually brutal.

The most egregious scene is a short montage where the police manhandled some black witnesses that Jones had previously interrogated about the whereabouts of his son Absalom before knowing he was a murderer, when the police were trying to apprehend the murderous gang members.

Jones' son's entire alibi & legal defense is repeating over & over "I did break-in & shoot him, but I didn't mean to kill him. I was afraid. Johannesburg is dangerous"

It also makes zero sense why Harris suddenly forgave Jones and his thug son. Harris starts as a "Never Relax" racist, then his son is killed in a B&E in cold blood. Then the father of his killer comes to harass him during the trial about another criminal drunk nog employee, and Harris wishes him well & welcomes him with open arms.

Then Harris goes back and builds Jones and the rest of the nogs a new church in his son's memory.

Apparently the director for the 1995 film was also some activist jogger.

Edit: There was one mildly based scene.

When Jones is preparing to leave for home again after his son's capital punishment verdict, the younger Johannesburg black priest that originally wrote for him to come collect his whore sister informs Jones that he is leaving the seminary & giving up all his worldy possessions (to do what isn't entirely clear) because he's so consumed with fear that "When the Whites finally learn to love us, that we will meet them with hate".