Escape from Pretoria

“Survival is key. Freedom is victory.”

Filmology Rating: 3 out of 4

Escape from Pretoria is yet another film you could watch during your quarantine. I figured what other films in 2020 were based on true stories since having seen 'Lost Girls' and 'Escape From Pretoria' happened to pop up as one.

Based on the real-life prison break of two political captives, 'Escape From Pretoria' is set in the apartheid days of South Africa with Daniel Radcliffe in the lead role.

I also found it fortuitous that Daniel Radcliffe appears in another 2020 non-theatrical film. His previous film being 'Guns Akimbo.' However, 'Escape From Pretoria' is everything one could want from a prison break film.

The film is imperfect in that there is no arcs for our characters or anything like that, but you don't necessarily care and forget about it quite quickly because the film fills that void with some of the most gripping tension of recent years.

It's a film that has one singular goal: escape. That's the entire film and the fact of the matter is that everything these characters do was actually how the prisoners planned on escaping. Everything is so meticulously planned out from the locks on their cell doors all the way to the front door and the entire film is full of nail-biting suspense.

The film has no real structure or attempt at character, but the film executes the goods so well that you just do not care. Even when you notice an accent or two to be slipping, you don't care because of how engaged you are. Radcliffe's accent does slip here and there, but this film further displays his range as an actor.

Go in for the thrills and you'll get them. The thrills are familiar, but it does its job and gets out in under two hours. You can rent 'Escape From Pretoria' on a number of different platforms as well. No need to leave the house.

Rating: See It

-Nolan