About the film
A decade after he broke through with Breaker Morant, Australian director Bruce Beresford made another acclaimed film about the effects of colonialism on the individual. In a performance that earned him the Berlin Film Festival’s Silver Bear for best actor, Maynard Eziashi plays the title character, a Nigerian villager eager to work as a civil servant for the British authorities, including a sympathetic district officer (Pierce Brosnan), in the hope that it will benefit him in the future. Instead, his ambition leads to his tragic downfall. Mister Johnson, based on the 1939 novel by Joyce Cary, is a graceful, heartfelt drama about the limits of idealism, affectingly acted and handsomely shot.
Mister Johnson is now part of The Criterion Collection! Learn more about it here.
Social Impact
As Executive producer, Bill Benenson saw the importance of illuminating how imposed cultures can have devastating results for the original culture
Film Credits
- DIRECTED BYBRUCE BERESFORD
- SCREENPLAY BYWILLIAM BOYD
- NOVEL BYJOYCE CARY
- EXECUTIVE PRODUCERBILL BENENSON
- PRODUCERMICHAEL FITZGERALD
- CO-PRODUCERPENELOPE GLASS
- ASSOCIATE PRODUCEREVA MONLEY
- MUSIC BYGEORGES DELERUE
- CINEMATOGRAPHY BYPETER JAMES
- FILM EDITING BYHUMPHREY DIXON
- CASTING BYSUSIE BRUFFIN
- PRODUCTION DESIGN BYHERBERT PINTER
- SET DECORATION BYGRAHAM SUMNER
- COSTUME DESIGN BYROSEMARY BURROWS
- PRODUCTION MANAGEMENTSTEPHEN PUSHKIN
