Escape From Pretoria

2020 Directed by Francis Annan

Survival is key

South Africa, 1978. Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee, two white political activists from the African National Congress imprisoned by the apartheid regime, put a plan in motion to escape from the infamous Pretoria Prison.

Daniel Radcliffe Daniel Webber Ian Hart Mark Leonard Winter Nathan Page Grant Piro Len Firth Lliam Amor Adam Tuominen PJ Oaten Ratidzo Mambo Vuyo Loko Maris J. Caune Adam Ovadia Rory Walker Genevieve Mooy Jeanette Cronin Stephen Hunter Terence Crawford Michael Kumnick Sacha Peltier Nikki Fort David Robson Paul Harvey Stephen Tongun Michelle Nightingale Terry Rogers Rod Glenn David Wilson Show All… Mark Brady

Alternative Titles

鑰命監獄, Fuga de Pretoria, Útěk z Pretorie, Fuga da Pretoria

thriller history drama

102 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Jonah Desneaux ★★★½ 1

This movie is too good to have a poster this atrocious.
Review by Austin Burke ★★★ 2

👌🏻62%
2020 list - Click HERE
We have had a double dose of Danielle Radcliffe over the past few days, and that is something I have (more than) welcomed into my life. While he still hasn’t found his groove since his days as a wizard; he always manages to turn in a decent/solid performance. This may be one of his best roles in years, as we follow him through this journey of figuring out how to escape this prison. It’s been awhile since a film like this has hit VOD/cinemas. It’s a throwback to the “break-out” films that used to come out more frequently, except this time it is based on a true story. We get thrown into South Africa during…
Review by cupofcoffinjoe ★★★

If Pretoria had laid the groundwork with some decent character development, this could have been a great prison break film. As it is, it's mostly us watching Daniel Radcliffe make wooden keys for 105 minutes.
If nothing else, the jailbreak finale managed to be fairly suspenseful. It's not awful or anything, but I'll probably forget I've ever seen this by next Tuesday.
Review by AmandaTheJedi ★★★

This needed more why they're in and less how they got out.
I want to see what they were fighting for, I want to see why it was so important, I want more about them. But mostly it's Radcliffe making keys.
Review by Tommy

azkaban took a turn eh
Review by Mario ★★½

Ich mag Gefängnisfilme bzw. Filme die sich darum drehen, aus einem Gefängnis zu entkommen. Ich mag es zu sehen, wie ein Haufen Außenseiter sich zusammenschließt und einen Plan entwickelt, um aus den Klauen ihres Gefängnisses zu entkommen.
"Escape from Pretoria" bemüht sich dabei, sowohl unsere Neigungen für Außenseitern, als auch unser historisches Wissen über die Barbarei der Apartheid in Südafrika, auszunutzen.
Der Film meidet dabei aber Melodram und Sentimentalität und konzentriert sich stattdessen voll und ganz auf die Mechanismen der Flucht. Er geht sehr detailliert auf die Entwicklung und Herstellung der Werkzeuge und Technologien ein, mit denen Jenkin und seine Crew entkommen wollen, darunter neun verschiedene Holzschlüssel.
Ex-Zauberer Daniel Radcliffe gibt eine ernsthafte, wenn auch keine unvergessliche Leistung als Jenkin,…
Review by Alyssa ★★★½ 1

This was actually much better than I thought it was going to be... the tension, my gosh! Two new Daniel Radcliffe films within two weeks and I am not complaining.
Review by Kaleb ★★★½

I think this is a much better role for Radcliffe compared to the other ones he’s been getting as of late. It’s a great performance, and I think the movie overall surprised me. It’s predictable, and doesn’t do anything particularly amazing, but I enjoyed the ride.
Review by fapm ★★★

Based in a true story, this prison escape movie has it's exciting moments and in some situations make you sit on the edge of you seat.
Although, I expected more from this, maybe more character development.
It's a good movie, nothing expecial.
Review by Shea Gallagher ★½ 3

I watched them film the opening scene - in which Daniel Radcliffe and his friend blow up a mailbox to disseminate anti-apartheid flyers - on a street in my city. A friend of mine was an extra on the shoot. Daniel was bouncing around restlessly and chain-smoking. It may have been because I was observing covertly from an elevated car park, but he really did look like a very short man. I was struck by the unreality of what I was watching - it was very disconcerting, seeing people rehearse every movement and cue. The explosion was nice and loud and I took home one of the flyers lying in a gutter once everyone had left. A good day.
That…
Review by Eslam Hussein ★★★½ 1

I watch it and in my mind Harry Potter as the prisoner of Pretoria and not actor Daniel Radcliffe.
I love this type of movies Reminds me of Shawshank Redemption and prison break ,not better than them. but Amazing movie An interesting true story .the whole cast was superb.
Review by London ★★★½ 2

Year: 2020 Ranked
Don't get me wrong: Escape from Pretoria is a movie with a lot of problems. The lead character ahs almost no development throughout the entire film. Stephen Lee has even less. Surprisingly Leonard is the most intriguing person in the movie. While there is a lot of tension in the movie, it doesn't ever let you sit on it, and gives no reprieve. This might seem like a great idea to leave the audience feeling tense throughout the entire runtime, but it doesn't quite work in this movie and as the movie goes on the tension just begins to naturally dissipate. And the movie is also a bit too long. I really enjoy the acts of the…

Recent reviews

Review by Gimena Mármol ★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Otra película más de escape, solo que esta tiene la particularidad de estar basada en sucesos reales.
Es bastante lenta, carece de suspenso y del drama con el cual se podría haber contado mejor, los hechos.
Review by Paul Davies ★★★★

Amazing and fantastical for a true story.
Review by Hassan ★★★½

this film beautifully captures the high stakes reality of intense constipation
Review by Robin De Vernon Ryding ★★★★

Was an honour to meet the director about a year ago at my University (SAE institute). Absolutely loved this film.

Was gutted I missed it in cinema but th wait was worth it to see it now. Well Done to the team of "Escape from Pretoria'
Review by Lee Brown Barrow ★★★

It's a remarkable true story although the film felt as long as the escape attempt itself. Still a good film though, both tense and well-acted, with a standout turn from Radcliffe.
Review by EMO ★★★

You know what, I was gonna not watch it after a few minutes just because I thought it was going to be boring, but here we are, finished and actually relatively enjoyed it
Based on a true story, it handled it pretty well and believably.
But Dan is def past his prime 🤭
Review by isabe11a ★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

daniel radcliffe making keys for 102 minutes
the movie is good and all, but harry po- sorry...i mean tim, has absolutely no character development throughout the entire movie. he goes from political activist to key maker, that’s literally it. the movie was actually decent because of the tension, it was literally palpable. oh and leonard deserved more, sluts for leonard all around.
Review by Dakota ★★★★

Came for Daniel Radcliffe, stayed for the gay bickering between the three of them.
Review by neil gray ★★★

Started off good got a bit slow in the 2nd act much made up for it in the end
Review by Cara ★★★★½

Damn that was good. Great tension, brilliant performances, snazzy film techniques... Highly recommend!!
Review by Zoë ★★★★½

Ah finally this is available to watch in the UK! (on Prime)
And wow it was insanely good- so stressful in all the best ways. I was on the edge of my seat feeling like I couldn’t breathe!
But it is also a great display of some cool filmmaking tricks and techniques: especially it’s crafty split diopter use
Review by chay22 ★★★★

Put this on as a Friday night popcorn movie but was rewarded with so much more.
This film was a refreshing change from the huge stakes “end of the world” storylines of recent cinema, the simple and realistic feel to the narrative builds a special kind of tension and investment I haven’t found in a home viewing in years.
I agree the characters could of been more fleshed out but I found the pacing and runtime suited the faster paced story presentation. The central themes of the time period and backstory are left on the back burner in place of “action” but I’m sure many people like myself will do their own research on the events and the real life characters portrayed.