The Power of One is a story about a young man that grows up in hardship in South Africa and along the way is taught by a few different people just what it means to be a human being and to truly live with dignity and heart. He grows into a man that wants to help those that need it most and ends up on the side of those that want to oppose apartheid and are willing to do most anything to reach that goal. While he loses those he cares about along the way his resolve is strong enough to see him through.
It’s a touching story about the dedication to do what one feels is right.
10. This was the film debut of Daniel Craig.
A lot of folks likely had no idea when Daniel Craig first came on the scene as he started showing up in a lot of films before he really got famous.
9. Ethan Hawke and Sean Astin were considered for the role of PK.
There’s no real explanation of why this didn’t happen. It could have been scheduling issues or it could have been decided that they just weren’t right for the part.
8. There was a strong boxing element in the story.
Once PK gets older the boxing element starts to come in very strongly and lasts throughout the rest of the film in some regard.
7. This was Morgan Freeman’s first South African role.
Eventually he would also go on to play the part of Nelson Mandela in the movie Invictus.
6. There were five different actors that portrayed PK.
Brendon Deary played the infant PK, while Guy Witcher played him at age 7. Simon Fenton played PK at age 12 and Stephen Dorff played him at age eighteen. Nigel Ivy played PK as the newborn version.
5. PK’s nickname had another meaning.
In the movie PK was short for Peter Phillip Kenneth-Keith, but in Afrikaans the name translates out to Pisskop, which is the word for pisshead. That’s a little less than inspiring really.
4. The name of PK’s chicken was Mother Courage.
Naming a chicken Courage is kind of funny really but throughout their time together onscreen PK adored his pet chicken and bonded with her in his own way.
3. The movie poster had a long preamble when describing the film.
For most posters there are a couple of sentences at best and one ideally. This description had what would have amounted to a full paragraph worth of description.
2. The Washington Post said this was a politically correct blending of action and drama.
What was actually said was that it was a PC blending of Rocky and PBS’s The Flame Trees of Thika. In other words it was a great attempt at combining two very distinct and popular genres that some might not have thought went together.
1. This was the final collaboration between the director and the screenwriter of the film.
John G. Avildsen and Robert Mark Kamen had previously worked on the Karate Kid franchise together, but this would be the last film that they worked with each other.
The film received mixed reviews, but was still considered to be a great story.
