Alan Paton's novel of a small-town South African minister venturing into Johannesburg to search for his estranged son was adapted for film in 1951, starring Canada Lee and Sidney Poitier. It's remade here with James Earl Jones in the Lee role as the minister Kumalo. Richard Harris plays a rich landowner who is also in town, but to claim his son's corpse. The latter, a human rights activist, has just been killed (by Kumalo's son in a panic, as it turns out) and the two fathers form a bond in difficult circumstances. It's made on a grander scale than the original film, but some of the acting and subdued tone means the whole drama doesn't pack quite enough of a punch.

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