[37][38] Jenkin spent some time in Adelaide, advising Radcliffe on accent and other aspects of the film, as well as playing as an extra, playing a prisoner next to Radcliffe in the visiting room. Francis Annan, a young and gifted British director, had hoped his debut film would be seen on the big screen. Messages were typed into a computer, encrypted and saved to audio cassette, then sent from a public callbox to an answering machine. View our online Press Pack. [14], Moumbaris was allowed to see the French envoy from time to time, who would assure him he was doing everything within his power to secure his release and persuade the authorities to let Marie-Jos visit him. [22], After their incarceration, Jenkin, Lee and several other inmates began plotting an escape, which would involve copies of several prison keys that Jenkin made from wood. It was gut-wrenching the length of time we were given, Stephen recalled. As clunkily deployed in the [] "You are the white Mandela," says a ham-faced warden, all but spitting in the face of anti-apartheid activist Tim Jenkin upon his arrival at Pretoria Local Prison in 1978. Would you have the guts to chisel away keys out of wood in your prison cell to open the nine steel, guarded doors to your freedom right under the noses of violent prison wardens? Director Francis Annan and his co-writer L.H . Adams and Karol Griffiths, director Annan certainly preserved that unique touch but also added some very entertaining and wonderful cinematic elements to it. In my early years I had learned to pick the back door lock at home with a piece of wire, he says. There were a few worrying signs that Jenkin was being monitored, but he went to London to see Robin for six weeks and returned without incident. The jaw-dropping story of how two men broke out of the infamous maximum-security Pretoria Prison - and eventually on to the UK - has been given the Hollywood treatment in new blockbuster 'Escape From Pretoria', starring Daniel Radcliffe as Tim. The arrests at Liliesleaf and convictions which followed at the Rivonia Trial in 1963-4 were followed by widespread roundups of activists and leaders, including Bram Fischer and Wilton Mkwayi. It was a little noise that promised a big prize freedom. [23], As the plan evolved it became clear that for the escape to be successful it would have to be restricted to three people, who would have to hide in a small closet at one point. "Just in case, we had brought a chisel. SLOUCHED on his bed in the small, dingy cell of the notorious jail where he was destined to spend the next 12 years, Tim Jenkin had a flash of inspiration. I took the file that I brought, and I had the lock in front of me so I could keep testing it, he explained of the agonisingly slow process. But the film still works in lockdown mode as a premium rental. The way Jenkin speaks about the escape is with a sort of whimsy, despite the danger theyd be in if they were caught suppose with 40 years between you and the act, theres been time to reflect. But we got away with it. [25][26] Filming of Escape from Pretoria began in Adelaide, South Australia, in March 2019, with Daniel Webber joining the cast as Lee. Luckily, the warder blamed one of his colleagues. Success came after many long nights of painstaking effort and risk. We use cookies and similar tools that are . It was December 11, 1979, 18 months after our conviction, Stephen says. It took them a year to get as far as door eleven, the final one. Moumbaris is renamed Leonard Fontaine and played by Mark Leonard Winter.[27][28]. [15] Both of them and Lee felt throughout the sooner they got out, the greater the chances of being discovered; the others warned against impatience but agreed the participants should as far as possible be in control.[16]. Stephen and Tim had to open 11 doors in total, some right next to the guards' office. But Tim Jenkin did, and you may be surprised to learn one of the most daring prison escapes was executed right under the noses of Pretoria Prison guards back in 1979 and involved nothing but the keys made in Jenkins own cell. It couldnt be reached by his cell, so he had to gradually fit that second key to size doing stints cleaning the corridor during prisoners' chore times. Jenkins book of the same title was published in 1987, when he was still living as a fugitive from nominal justice in London. The video features excerpts from interviews with Moumbaris, Jenkin, Lee and fellow inmate Denis Goldberg filmed in 2012, in between re-enacted scenes of the prison escape. [12], Moumbaris, although enrolled in university courses, did not undertake formal studies at all while in prison; it was a cover so extra books could be obtained from the university library for everyone to make use of; it was a way of keeping themselves informed about the world. His wife was detained during the same period of his detention, but was later released without charge. Jenkin was born in Cape Town and educated at Rondebosch Boys' Prep and Boys' High School, matriculating aged 17. 12 'To build solidarity - that was my task', "Daniel Radcliffe to Star in Prison-Break Drama 'Escape From Pretoria', "Pretoria Prison break: Amazing story of the daring men who escaped notorious apartheid regime jail", "Adelaide transformed into apartheid-era Cape Town for Escape From Pretoria filming", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tim_Jenkin&oldid=1137067993, This page was last edited on 2 February 2023, at 16:48. Jenkins was not going to help the cause by sitting in prison, and he set about planning an escape. [26], When living in Camden, still with the ANC, Jenkin devised a system for encrypted communication for the ANC to communicate with their agents. United Nations High Commission for Refugees, "Press Conference by O. R. Tambo, Introducing Alexandre Moumbaris, Stephen Lee and Timothy Jenkin who Escaped from Prison in South Africa", "Ambassador Molekane receives stalwart of the apartheid struggle Alex Moumbaris at the SA Embassy", "Media Statement by the Chancellor of the National Orders and Director-General in the Presidency, Dr. Cassius Lubisi, at the Union Buildings, Pretoria", "Daniel Radcliffe to Star in Prison-Break Drama 'Escape From Pretoria', "Sam Neill joins Daniel Radcliffe in 'Escape From Pretoria', "Adelaide transformed into apartheid-era Cape Town for Escape From Pretoria filming", "Daniel Radcliffe touches down in Adelaide for new movie", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alex_Moumbaris&oldid=1101678249, All Wikipedia articles written in South African English, Articles containing potentially dated statements from July 2017, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 1 August 2022, at 07:50. He became instrumental to the escape plan in several ways, making the early suggestion any escape plan would have to involve the making of keys,[7] providing a hacksaw which he had secreted after plumbers had left it behind,[8] and getting involved in some of the riskier aspects of the planning and testing of the scheme. However, after the escape plan had captured his imagination, he cleaned up and changed his attitude, and was soon promoted to the "A" group. Over a long series of dummy runs that took over a year to complete, they got as far as door 10 the door to the outside. Why? "This was going to let us out of the cells into the corridor," he added. Starring Daniel Radcliffe as a jailed anti-apartheid activist, this true-life prison-break thriller is stronger on genre mechanics than political nuance. In the end, it was the selfless actions of a fourth prisoner, Denis Goldberg - who had been sentenced alongside Mandela, and who would ultimately serve 22 years - who made their bid for freedom a reality. For three years they set off harmless leaflet bombs - explosive devices at the bottom of a shopping bag that could distribute 500 propaganda pamphlets in one 'bang' - spreading word of the liberation movement in public places. Through reading material banned by the government, they came to see the "naked reality" of apartheid and the undemocratic behavior of the ruling party, and felt a burning desire to effect positive change, which, Jenkin concluded, was only possible using unconstitutional means under the current regime. [35][36] Filming of Escape from Pretoria began in Adelaide, South Australia, in March and April 2019, with Daniel Webber joining the cast as Lee. All of them imprisoned for underground work on behalf of the . For other inquiries, Contact Us. 2020 PG-13 1h 46m DVD Rent this movie Play trailer. The last 30-odd years have seen such a wealth of diverse, resonant personal histories emerge from the ashes of apartheid not least that of the actual, not-white Mandela that Escape from Pretoria could well have missed its moment entirely. They became friends and, in a South African version of Samizdat, Jenkins and Lee sought out literature banned by the ruling National Party. The last 30-odd years have seen such a wealth of diverse, resonant personal histories emerge from the ashes of apartheid not least that of the actual, not-white Mandela that " Escape from. He discovered to his horror that there were ten doors they had to make it through. Alex Moumbaris: Political activist, Political activist, Activist, From: Egypt. The leaflet bombs were effective in spreading the anti-apartheid message, Stephen says. Alex Moumbaris was born in Egypt to French parents and later became a naturalised Australian. Just supporting the liberation movement was deemed to be terrorism.. They then photocopied it and swapped it with other students. [31][32] In 2013, the story of the prison escape was dramatised in the 7th episode of the 2nd season of Breakout, a television series made by National Geographic TV channel dramatising real-life prison escapes. Tim was inspired by the book Papillon later made into a film starring Dustin Hoffman about a French convicts escape from a jungle island. As such, they were brought to the attention of South Africa's secret police. [19] The street was deserted, but they still had to find their way out of South Africa, into Mozambique and to freedom. "That gave me the depth of the lock inside, which was the same measurement as the key. This time they came up with a plan to leave dummies in their beds, sneak downstairs, hide in a cupboard and wait for the warder to go upstairs. But fortunately the metal of the keyhole marked where it was getting jammed, meaning Tim could accurately file it down to size. Escape from Pretoria is a 2020 Australian prison film co-written and directed by Francis Annan, based on the real-life prison escape by three political prisoners in South Africa in 1979, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Daniel Webber. We got through the nine doors and then at the final door, we found we couldnt open the lock. Then, one day he was working in a carpentry workshop and it struck him that the key could be wooden. Australian actor and former elite cyclist Nathan Page, best known internationally for his nuanced portrayal of Detective Inspector Jack Robinson in Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (2012), was born into an air force family in Perth on 25 August 1971. Moumbaris, unlike the two other men, was at Pretoria Prison since 1973. Ready to find out more about the real story Escape from Pretoria is based on? [Part 1: Intro] South Africa is a beautiful country and home to many unique languages and cultures, such as the Afrikaner (or Boer). My heart was racing. After hundreds of days of looking at the keys, he commits their shape to memory and successfully makes replicas for all nineteen doors that lead to the main gate of the prison. He adds: I have probably different emotions as people. In the 1990s he and others created an association dedicated to the memory of Joseph Stalin, later dissolved but re-formed, for his role in creating socialism, with free health and education. A guard who found it assumed a colleague was to blame. There was enough explosive inside to lift about 500 pamphlets into the air. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Tiene 72 aos y ha escrito varios libros. The video features excerpts from interviews with Jenkin, Lee, Moumbaris and Goldberg filmed in 2012, in between re-enacted scenes of the prison escape. lindbacken fastigheter "You get back to your cell and youd think, 'OK, its over, I can relax' but you couldnt.". [19], By escaping, Moumbaris had reduced his sentence by five and a half years. The fact that they were all in prison for their political activities and beliefs united them, and "as members of a revolutionary organisation [they] were disciplined and shared in [their] suffering collectively". This had involved a great deal of planning but there were still many challenges in the execution, travelling via Angola, Zambia and Tanzania finally to London. [7] Goldberg distracted the warden while the three made their escape. From the very first day, we started to collect intelligence about possible escape routes, says Tim, who now lives in Johannesburg. 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