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Welcome to my first post here on the Steemit Blockchain.
I am Movie Monkey and am a true film addict.
Hope you enjoy my reviews.

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Escape From Pretoria

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• Genre: Thriller
• Release Date: 6th March 2020
• Director: Francis Annan
• Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Daniel Webber, Mark Leonard Winter, Ian Hart

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Escape from Pretoria is based on the real life events of the incarceration of both Timothy Jenkin and Stephen Lee, as written in Tim’s book Inside out: Escape from Pretoria Prison.
Tim and Stephen were both members of the Prohibited African National Congress and worked tirelessly on their mission to eradicate apartheid for a democratic and free South Africa.
During the summer of 1978, Tim and Stephen were arrested and charged for the creation and use of numerous ‘Leaflet distribution bombs’.
These devices were placed on the busy streets of South Africa and detonated in order to quickly dispense the anti apartheid leaflets that they had produced.
Timothy, the chief bomb maker, was sentenced to twelve years and Stephen, his accomplice was sentence to eight years.

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Courtesy of YouTube

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Once within the confines of Pretoria Prison, they were subjected to the harsh regime of prison life and it’s daily incessant routines.
Lights out at 11pm, morning bell at 5am and breakfast at 7.30am.
The prospect of twelve years of monotonous prison life forced Timothy’s mind into the thought process of escape.
He quickly set to getting to know his fellow inmates and discussing the many solid security obstacles that the prison had in place.
Fellow inmate and apartheid campaigner Denis, who took Tim and Stephen under his wing, discouraged them to escape. However another inmate, Leonard, was all for the idea and wished to join them.
Spending each night in his solitary cell staring at the lock which kept him confined, Timothy soon realised that this lock was his first obstacle.

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He visualised the problem and came up with the rationale that he needed to produce a key to unlock it.
He would steal the wood and other tools needed, from the in prison wood shop and form his own set of keys for multiple locks.
Timothy’s background in the engineering of the leaflet bombs undoubtedly helped him during the process of making the keys.
His mechanical and almost photographic memory took over and he used every opportunity to visually analyse the guards keys and remember their shape, size and individuality.
He used the visual memory to connect wood pieces together and file them into the exact same shapes of the keys which donned the prison guards waist belts.
One by one he created different keys for each lock and painstakingly filed them into the correct shape to enable their freedom.

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Each night he would spend hours sneaking around the prison, opening each door as he came to it, before locking it behind him and moving onto the next. Going further and further each time.
With over 400 successful nights of being undetected and a collection of 39 handmade wooden keys, Tim, Stephen and Leonard made the decision that they were ready to escape.
Taking into consideration the many number of obstacles before them on their route, they left their cells and proceeded for freedom.
The tense portrayal of the escape plot was brilliant and definitely had you on the edge of your seat hoping that they would succeed.
The three men crept around in the darkness of the prison corridors in their efforts of both being able to unlock each door they happened upon, and to remain undetected form the night guard.
With a little help of a distraction tactic by their fellow inmates and Denis, who chose to stay behind, they were able to finally reach the last door.

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The last remaining lock between the desperate men and their freedom. So close!
Unfortunately not having reached this far previously, Timothy had no key that would fit.
Leonard took a chisel and screwdriver to the door frame and hacked fast at the surrounding wood. Although effective it was also very loud and the other men could only watch by as they feared the noise would alert the night guard. Nail biting.
They are finally free. They carefully cross the courtyard avoiding the sniper up above and clear the prison gate.
Outside and onto the streets of Pretoria, trying to look inconspicuous, they clambered into a taxi and drove away.

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The on screen text told of their further journey through Mozambique, Tanzania and eventually London, where they continued in their fight against apartheid.
Escape from Pretoria is a stunning portrayal of the real life prisoners within the harsh and repetitive regime of incarceration.
It highlights the historical struggle surrounding people of colour and segregation with outstanding performances by all involved.
Daniel Radcliffe yet again proving that he can turn his hand at any genre and create a believable and heartfelt performance.
Movie Monkey Rating: 4.5

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