A Far Off Place

Category:Films
Category:1990s films
Category:Adventure films
Category:Children's films
Category:Children's adventure films
Category:1993 films
Category:English-language films
Category:1990s adventure films
Category:American films
Category:Aviation films
Category:American children's adventure films
Category:Films based on multiple works of a series
Category:Films based on South African novels
Category:Directorial debut films
Category:Films set in Africa
Category:Films set in deserts
Category:Films shot in Namibia
Category:Films shot in Zimbabwe
Category:Amblin Entertainment films
Category:Walt Disney Pictures films
Category:Films directed by Mikael Salomon
Category:Films produced by Kathleen Kennedy
Category:Films produced by Frank Marshall
Category:Films scored by James Horner
Category:Articles in need of a picture
Category:2:35:1 Aspect Ratio Films
Category:2:39:1 Aspect Ratio Films
A Far Off Place (aka Far Off Place and Kalahari) is a 1993 American adventure drama film based on Laurens van der Post's works A Far Off Place (1974) and its predecessor, A Story Like the Wind (1972). It stars Reese Witherspoon, Ethan Randall, Jack Thompson and Maximilian Schell. The plot concerns three young teenagers who must cross the Kalahari Desert to safety when their parents are killed by a poacher.
A Far Off Place was filmed in Namibia and Zimbabwe from May to September 1992.
== Plot ==
Against his wishes, spoiled New York City teen Harry Winslow accompanies his father to Africa's Kalahari Desert to spend time with family acquaintances Paul and Elizabeth Parker. He clashes with the Parkers’ spirited 14-year-old daughter Nonnie, who wants to follow in her dad's footsteps as a wildlife commissioner fighting Africa's elephant poachers.
That night, Nonnie and the family dog, Hintza, sneak out of the house to meet her bushman friend, Xhabbo. Harry follows them to a cave, where they spend the night helping Xhabbo recover his strength after he is attacked by a leopard.
At dawn, Nonnie returns to the house to discover that her parents and Harry's father have been murdered for investigating the export of ivory, a poaching operation secretly run by Paul Parker's associate, John Ricketts. Nonnie hides from the poachers but Ricketts realizes Nonnie and Harry are missing.
Nonnie manages to grab explosives and attaches them to the bottom of the poachers' truck, killing several of Ricketts' men. She flees to the cave and Xhabbo advises them to "follow the wind" by heading west across the Kalahari Desert. On the edge of the desert, Xhabbo communicates with a herd of elephants and convinces them to cover their tracks by following behind. Harry is furious to learn they have 2,000 kilometers to travel before reaching the seaport of Karlstown, but Nonnie remains optimistic.
Meanwhile, the Parkers’ close friend, Colonel Mopani Theron, learns of the attack. Unaware of Ricketts' involvement, he orders Ricketts to lead an aerial search party to find the missing children. Harry attempts to flag down an approaching plane, thinking they are being rescued, but Nonnie warns they could be poachers and says they should hide.
Harry stuffs their clothes with straw to make fake decoy bodies which they place in the sand. In hiding, the kids watch in horror as the plane passengers gun down the straw bodies. Nonnie sees it was Ricketts.
Over the next two months, the runaways dig up plant roots for sustenance, and Xhabbo teaches Harry how to speak his native language and hunt gemsbok. Col. Theron remains convinced that the Parkers' death was a corporate conspiracy and continues his tireless search for the exporters' store of elephant tusks, which he believes will lead him to the murderer.
Nonnie and Harry are forced to stop their journey when Xhabbo gets stung by a scorpion. While wandering in search of water, Nonnie collapses in the sand. Hearing the hum of Ricketts' approaching helicopter, Nonnie and Xhabbo weakly thump their chests in the spiritual Bushman practice of "tapping", summoning a sandstorm that forces Ricketts to flee.
Unaware they are only a few yards away from the Atlantic coast, the three youngsters fall unconscious and awaken in a Karlstown hospital. There, Nonnie is reunited with Col. Theron and informs him that Ricketts was responsible for her parents' deaths. Once they recover, Nonnie and Harry accompany him to Ricketts' mining facility, where they find his hoard of elephant tusks. They rig the place with dynamite and, just as Ricketts arrives, they lead him outside and light the fuse. Ricketts runs back into the mine trying to extinguish the flame, but the dynamite explodes and buries him within the mine.
Sometime later, Nonnie and Harry say goodbye to Xhabbo, who returns to the Kalahari. Harry kisses Nonnie before boarding an aircraft home to New York, and she tells him to leave without looking back. However, as Nonnie and Col. Theron begin cleaning the charred remains of the Parker home, Harry returns, and the youths embrace.
== Cast ==
* Reese Witherspoon as Nonnie Parker
* Ethan Randall as Harry Winslow, Nonnie's love interest
* Jack Thompson as John Ricketts, Paul's associate
* Sarel Bok as Xhabbo, Nonnie's best friend
* Robert John Burke as Paul Parker, Nonnie's father
* Patricia Kalember as Elizabeth Parker, Nonnie's mother
* Daniel Gerroll as John Winslow, Harry's father
* Maximilian Schell as Col. Mopani Theron, Nonnie's godfather
* Miles Anderson as Jardin
* Taffy Chihota as Warden Robert
* Magdalene Damas as Nuin-Tara