Andrew Worsdale
The Great Escape, a fascinating documentary airing on SABC1 at 6.30pm on Sunday December 20, tells the story of the famous Marshall Square jailbreak in 1963 where activists Arthur Goldreich, Mosie Moolla, Charlie Jasset and Harold Wolpe managed to persuade warder Johan Greef to let them out with the promise of payment.
Greef himself was sentenced to two years in prison subsequently for “treason”.
Produced and written by Beata Lipman with documentary sequences directed by her daughter Jane and dramatic sequences directed by Khalo Matabane , it’s an intriguing journey into our past. As Goldreich says in the film, “It’s a profound thought and understanding that personal lives are attached to the lives of the people and the struggle.”
The drama/documentary intricately follows the four men from their escape,their hiding in safe houses in Johannesburg (Goldreich and Wolpe were rescued in the middle of the night by theatre director Barney Simon), their journey to Swaziland disguised as priests or in drag, and their subsequent trips to then-Bechuanaland and finally sanctuary and public and media adulation in Dar es Salaam.
It’s a fascinating tale of an epic journey that was filled with anxiety, danger, sabotage, camaraderie and moments, albeit few, of humour.Although some of the acting is stilted at times, the inclusion of dramatic sequences gives one a real sense of the chain of events and makes this much more than a talking heads look at personal and political history, but the highlight of the film has to be Goldreich who is a charming, eloquent and humorous man.
Matabane says, “Many films made about South Africa are made by white people about black people. This delves into white and Indian stories. I knew fuck- all about the story when I started on the project, but I was instantly fascinated.” I also knew nothing about the story. It happened a year after I was born and it’s a tale that touches very deeply – it’s an adventure story with real people.