I am grateful I read the wonderful and amazing novel BEFORE I saw this
film. I would not have read the book otherwise. There is just too much in THE POWER OF ONE to honestly translate to a 90 to 120 minute film.
No wonder the Wally Lamb novels have never made it to the silver screen...
If you only saw the movie--do yourself a HUGE favor and read the book...it's so much more than terrific.
I couldn't agree with you more - the movie had a fraction of the book's depth.
That being said, I saw the movie when it originally came out and loved it, and someone lent me the book three years later and I honestly didn't realise I had seen the movie before as they were so completely different. After reading the book I realised how much had been left from the movie, but I must say that even stripped down that far it was still good enough to make an impact as the first serious movie I was interested in - I guess that just goes to show how strong the book is in the first place :)
I concur. I finished the book last night and was eager to watch the movie today. Unfortunately, I was only able to tolerate half of the movie before abandoning the exercise due to extreme disappointment. The book was absolutely fantastic and exhibited infinitely more depth in its characters than the movie.
For those who have neither read the book nor watched the movie, I strongly suggest you read the book first so that it is untainted before attempting to watch the movie (which, in my opinion, butchered a true masterpiece).
Having read the original book by Bryce Courtenay I must say I am very dissappointed with this movie.
It starts of ok but then completely loses the plot of the book.
If you have read the book then you will be upset with this movie BUT if you have not read the book then you will enjoy it as in itself it is a very good movie.
This movie is quite powerful in showing what life was like in South Africa but it does not go far enough into the story.
For instance the school bully was NOT a policeman but a diamond mine worker yet this side of Pekays life was never portrayed. Doc did not go back to germany he died in South Africa. Pekay & Doc would wander all over the land looking for cacti & when Doc went to prison Pekay & others looked after his house, till he was released at the end of the war, but again this was not portrayed.
I found the book to be a lot more powerful than the movie. The book even made me feel like I was in South Africa.
I am surprised Bryce Courtenay allowed this bastardisation of his writing to happen.
So true. This is the worst adaptation I've ever seen.
Wait! Does this also mean putting out doesn't get you love?
I don't recall Bryce Courtenay ever being critical of the filmed version of his book (as some authors are). He was a realist in that he knew changes would be made as they always are, when transferring and editing the contents of a 600 page book into a 128 minute film.🐭
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