Home Entertainment Assault your ears with the terrible South African accents in this trailer for Escape from Pretoria

Assault your ears with the terrible South African accents in this trailer for Escape from Pretoria

2 min read
24

We’ve had Escape from Alcatraz, Escape from New York and then Escape from Los Angeles and now it’s time for the ultimate escape movie of them all, Escape from Pretoria… Wait, what? That’s right, after deciding that American prisons and cities are just not tough enough to escape from, the film industry is ready to tackle a different beast and try to get a team of actors to attempt to escape out of Pretoria.

On the 40th anniversary of African National Congress activist Tim Jenkin escaping from a maximum-security prison in Pretoria, comes the trailer for the movie about how he and a team of fellow inmates were able to do so. Starring Daniel Radcliffe as Jenkin – who seems intent on doing everything possible to distance himself from his wizarding days – alongside a cast including Daniel Webber, Mark Leonard Winter, Ian Hart and Stephen Hunter sees them pull off what had seemed impossible to escape from one of the most brutal prisons in South Africa using some ingenuity, hand-made wooden keys and some really bad South African accents.

Well to be fair, despite the off-putting accents which are likely to only ever be noticed by South Africans, the movie doesn‘t look too bad. Prison escape movies can often end up cliched, but that this is based on truth and has a strong political message, makes it more appealing. The film is based on Jenkin’s own book of the same name and is directed by Francis Annan, who also co-wrote the script with L.H. Adams.

Hearing those bad accents though makes you wonder when the film industry will eventually star to hire South African actors who can genuinely speak the accent rather than sticking with foreigners trying to pull off what must be one of the most difficult accents in the world to get right. Interestingly enough, this film was actually shot in Australia though and not South Africa which perhaps explains why they could get away with those accents without a local correcting it for them. A pity, because a film like this should really have been shot in the country where it actually happened. I guess you need electricity for your lighting and cameras and so they went elsewhere instead.

The film is scheduled for release in the UK on March 6th with a local release date yet to be announced.

Below is the official synopsis of the film:

Daniel Radcliffe stars as Tim Jenkin – a real-life ANC activist who was imprisoned in Africa’s maximum-security prison Pretoria in the 1970s during the Apartheid. Along with two imprisoned fellow freedom fighters, played by Daniel Webber and Mark Leonard Winter, Tim escaped on 11th December 1970 using hand-made wooden keys which he crafted whilst incarcerated.

Last Updated: December 12, 2019

24 Comments

  1. CrAiGiSh

    December 12, 2019 at 08:57

    Based on a trooth story … ?

    Reply

  2. Tracy Benson

    December 12, 2019 at 08:57

    I like how barb wire ended up as “bob war”, lol! But besides for the hit-and-miss accents, it actually looks quite good

    Reply

  3. Yozzie

    December 12, 2019 at 09:13

    Depends if it’s northern or southern Afrikaans accent mimicking, because one of those is much much worse than the other.

    Reply

    • HairyEwok

      December 12, 2019 at 11:22

      Wat seh djy jakalas?

      Reply

  4. Original Heretic

    December 12, 2019 at 09:13

    Hearing this just makes one once again appreciate the amazing job Thomas Jane did in Stander.

    Reply

    • Son of Banana Jim

      December 12, 2019 at 13:37

      Lol, I raise you one Leonardo DiCarpio…

      Reply

      • Original Heretic

        December 12, 2019 at 13:57

        How is that “raising”? His accent in Blood Diamond suuuuuuucked.
        Jane’s was perfect.

        Reply

  5. Admiral Chief

    December 12, 2019 at 09:29

    Escape from Pretoria, also known as this week’s rain chaos

    Reply

    • Son of Banana Jim

      December 12, 2019 at 13:31

      Don’t escape to Cape Town. Our automated gun turrets are armed and ready. Now if only we built that damn wall….

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief

        December 13, 2019 at 07:04

        Luckily your auto turrets use power, all I have to do, is check your schedule, wait for loadshedding, and invade

        Reply

  6. justlikemo

    December 12, 2019 at 09:37

    ooi local version of Dumbledore shaved his beard

    Reply

  7. DragonSpirit009

    December 12, 2019 at 11:22

    To be honest the accent doesn’t bother me much when they speak English while trying to pull off an Afrikaans accent…. It’s when they start to speak Afrikaans for real, that’s when it bothers me.
    But this look good. I might actually go watch it.

    Reply

    • Son of Banana Jim

      December 12, 2019 at 13:37

      Lol, I’m having flashbacks to Lethal Weapon 2 and “khraaay fur ohnm” ? ? ? ?

      Reply

      • DragonSpirit009

        December 12, 2019 at 13:37

        I was actually just thinking of that as I typed that comment

        Reply

  8. BradeLunner

    December 12, 2019 at 12:17

    I thought we had some good initiatives to make filming in SA cheap for international companies, and some great actors, so it’s sad they filmed in Aus

    Reply

    • HvR

      December 12, 2019 at 12:42

      Sort of pisses on the whole “message” they want to portray with the film.

      Reply

    • Son of Banana Jim

      December 12, 2019 at 18:04

      Yeah, I’d like to know what’s the story there.

      Reply

  9. Son of Banana Jim

    December 12, 2019 at 13:31

    But, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth are full of former South Africans… Surely, they could have roped in at least one or two accent “specialists”…

    And why does the one guy remind me of a tall Peter Dinklage?

    Reply

  10. SagatatiaRZA

    December 12, 2019 at 09:29

    Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Atteridgeville

    Reply

    • HvR

      December 12, 2019 at 12:30

      *Herrie Braaibak

      Reply

  11. Yondaime

    December 12, 2019 at 09:37

    If anything i’ll watch this for comical accents portrayed throughout, the one guy sounds French at one point

    Reply

  12. thatotherbrandon

    December 12, 2019 at 09:56

    There is a massive diaspora of South Africans living in Australia, so why not just spend some time around them instead of thumbsucking the accent?

    Reply

    • Son of Banana Jim

      December 12, 2019 at 13:37

      ? Given the mutant creatures that left our shores… Would you want to spend time with them, or would you rather go into the desert and brave a dingo or two?

      Reply

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