The Power of One

The Power of One is an intriguing story of a young English boy named Peekay and his passion for changing the world…

• Director: John G. Avildsen
• Genre:Drama
• Runtime:128 minutes

Cast

Nomadlozi Kubheka : Nanny
Agatha Hurle : Midwife
Nigel Ivy : P.K. Newborn
Tracy Brooks Swope : Mother
Brendan Deary : P.K. Infant

Born in 1930 to a recently widowed British-born mother on a farm in rural South Africa, P.K. leads a simple life initially, learning the ways of England from his mother and the ways of Africa from his Zulu nanny (Nomadlozi Kubheka), whose son Tonderai is his best friend. However everything changes for the worse for P.K. when the cattle are struck down by plague, causing his mother to have a nervous breakdown. While his mother is recovering, PK is sent to an Afrikaner boarding school. Being the only English boy, he soon becomes the target of serious bullying. They claim to hold him responsible for the deaths of thousands of Afrikaners Second Anglo-Boer War and vow to punish him accordingly.

PK is victimised by all the boys at the school, but most of all by the older boys, led by Jaapie Botha. In one incident, PK is urinated on by Botha and the other students, earning the name “Pisskopf” (pisshead in Afrikaans). This causes him to begin wetting the bed. Later when he goes home to attend his mother’s funeral, he tells Nanny about the bedwetting. She arranges for the Zulu medicine man Dabula Manzi to come and cure PK of his bedwetting. Dabula Manzi helps PK to conquer his fears by leading him into the dreamworld. He also shows PK a piece of “magic” involving chickens, where the chicken remains sitting and docile within a circle drawn in the dust. PK is given a chicken, which he names Mother Courage (in the book, the chicken is named Grandpa Chook).

One day, coinciding with the rise of Hitler, PK is captured, along with Mother Courage, by the other boys and brought to a mock-trial by Botha, which reveals his new obsession with Hitler and the depths of his hatred for the English. First, Mother Courage is taken, and hung from the ceiling, Botha killing her by hitting her with a rock from a sling. Enraged, PK lunges at Botha, knocking him backwards onto a small flag that pierces his buttocks, humiliating Botha when the other boys laugh at his pain and embarrassment. In anger, Botha orders PK to be hung in the same position as Mother Courage, where Botha hits him in the forehead with a rock from his sling, knocking him unconscious. At that moment a teacher comes in, sees what’s happening, and slaps Botha in the face, calling him a “dummkop” (stupid). We learn later that Botha is expelled from the school for his psychopathic behavior and viewed as a disgrace by his family. Read more

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