The Power Of One (1995)

This week, Gene and Big D review The Power of One (1992), the historical drama directed by John G. Avildsen (Rocky) and starring Stephen Dorff, Morgan Freeman, John Gielgud, and a very young, very hateable Daniel Craig — in his feature film debut.

Set in apartheid-era South Africa, the film follows Peter "PK" Keith, an Anglo boy navigating boarding school brutality, a German expat mentor, a prison boxing coach, and the weight of becoming a symbol for an oppressed people. It's ambitious, it's beautiful, and it completely bombed at the box office.

This episode, the guys debate:

• Whether PK is the hero — or actually the most dangerous man in South Africa
• Why the film's Black characters are almost impossibly patient with the white kid saving them
• The most disturbing scene in any PG-13 movie (and it's not the violence)
• Stephen Dorff: criminally underrated, or just lucky here?
• What PK should have done instead of turning down Oxford?

Plus: Dick fosters five-week-old kittens named Band Camp and Space Camp. Gene drunkenly watched the FIFA World Cup final before recording. Rob's commissioner letter about his late mum brings the whole episode to a halt.

This commission comes courtesy of Rob H. (UK), part of his upcoming block of commissions. Rob's letter — including his childhood trip to Zimbabwe, his memories of Victoria Falls, and a Zulu phrase he made Gene Google live on mic — is one of the best we've received in 500 episodes.

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