The Power of One(1992)

PK (played as an older teenager by Stephen Dorff) finds himself as the constant target of a grown-up and deeply resentful Jaapie Botha (Daniel Craig), his life-long mortal enemy and now a Sargeant of the repressive South African Police, because of his ongoing secret relationship with Maria (Fay Masterson), the daughter of prominent Pro-Apartheid aristocrat Daniel Marais (Marius Weyers), and his growing efforts, along with his friend and boxing partner Gideon Duma (Alois Moyo), to try and make a difference for the oppressed people of South Africa. The Police consistently come after him; first, by attacking the athletes at the boxing gym -Gideon loses an eye during this incident, from a beating by Botha-; later, by shutting it down, burning it and arresting its trainer for “promoting mixed-race activities”; and, as a culminating event, by raiding a church where Black township people were trying to learn English. In the latter incident, Maria is killed when she comes between PK and an agent trying to attack him with a stick. Enraged, he violently bludgeons the agent with a chair and is taken away but, later, attends Maria’s funeral. Daniel spots him and tries to force him off but stops at the sight of a procession of township people, chanting and paying their respects.

Feeling dejected, he tells Duma he is leaving for Oxford; but Duma discourages him from doing so, because, otherwise, there won’t be a better tomorrow for all South Africans and Maria’s death will have been in vain. Furthermore, the movement to work in favour of educating Black South Africans in English language was growing and expanding. His confidence bolstered, PK concedes.

Shortly after, led by Botha, Police return to Alexandria and violently raid the grounds, looking for PK, resulting in many wounded, casualties on both sides and a massive fire throughout. Eventually, PK confronts Botha and they engage in an intense fight, where PK gets the upper hand and fiercely defeats his nemesis; but when it looks like Botha will try and cowardly shoot PK in the back, Gideon reappears and puts him down for good with a wooden stick.

The final sequence of the movie shows PK and Gideon, now on the run from the authorities, as they walk into the sunset, while continuing their clandestine activism for a just, oppression-free country. In voiceover, PK narrates how his Nanny once told him that “if he listened to the wind, he’d listen to the voices of his life” and, in doing so, he heard the people who gave him the strength to live and fight -Doc (Armin Mueller-Stahl), Geel Piet (Morgan Freeman), the Witch Doctor who helped him with his childhood fears, and Maria-, “the voices of his life, the voices of Africa”.