BROOM

During the late 1940s in South Africa, the government carried out a strict racial segregation called Apartheid. This system gave the whites more privileges and better jobs.

On the other hand, the black community was frowned upon, prohibited from entering ‘upper class’ areas, and even massacred. However, after decades of oppression, they finally had enough. The black community formed a movement called the African National Party or the ANP.

Their main agenda was to stop the racial discrimination and bring back harmony in the country. The protagonist of the movie is Tim Jenkin, a white activist working for the ANP. He is heading to a crowded market with two large bags in his hand.

He drops one of them near a trashcan and the other one next to a car. Then, he signals his accomplice; Stephen Lee, to initiate the plan. It turns out the bags contain explosives, which they plan to detonate right now.

They immediately get to work and connect some wires inside the bag. As they walk away, two explosions occur, but they are harmless. However, hundreds of leaflets are scattered across the busy market. They contain propaganda messages against the Apartheid Government.

Jenkin and Lee nervously try to flee the scene but they are soon apprehended by the cops. Later, while awaiting prosecution, Jenkin’s wife sneaks into his room and gives him some money which he may require in prison.

She then wishes him goodbye, promising to always stay by his side. Shortly after, Jenkin heads to the bathroom, hides the money inside a cigar case, and shoves it inside him. He is now ready to face whatever comes his way. At the court hearing, the judge berates Jenkin and Lee for apparently ‘going against their own race.’

As a punishment, Jenkin is sentenced to 12 years in prison, as he manufactured the bombs, while Lee, being an accomplice, is given 8 years. In the next scene, the two are escorted to the notorious Pretoria Prison, which is exclusively made for white criminals.

The warden receives them at the entrance and immediately labels them as ‘traitors’. Then, he hands them over to a strict prison officer; Meneer. The two are then taken inside the prison, and Meneer explains the rules and regulations of the place.

Jenkin carefully looks around and notices the automatic grill doors, multiple barred gates, and other security systems. The place looks impenetrable.

After a while, Meneer takes them to their respective cells, which are reinforced by a grill door, followed by a full metal door. That night, Jenkin is lost in his thoughts and he barely gets any sleep. The next morning, during breakfast time, he wanders around the canteen hall, until an old man named Denis Goldberg pulls him aside.

Denis is a senior political activist, who was also captured for protesting against the Apartheid. Currently, he is serving four life sentences. Soon, Lee also joins them, and the three have an interesting conversation about their respective situations.

Meanwhile, a French-Australian prisoner; Leonard, is seen eavesdropping on their conversation. In the day, during exercise time, Denis briefs his new friends about the prison’s layout. The walls are 32 feet high, the searchlights cover every inch of the yard, the barbed fences are razor sharp, and most importantly, there are snipers on the roof 24/7.

In short, he advises them against trying to escape, as it is virtually impossible. Denis also reveals that many have attempted a prison break in the past, but all have failed.

After he leaves, Leonard approaches the two and mentions that Denis always discourages new inmates from trying to escape. He, however, knows that it is very much possible.

So, Leonard proposes to help them and in exchange, he wants to be included in their plan. Later, Jenkin brings out the cigar case containing the money and sneaks it over to Denis. The latter hides it inside a toothpaste, making sure it never falls into the wrong hands. 23 days have passed by and life has started becoming normal for the boys. That night, in his cell, Jenkin lights up a match stick and looks through the keyhole in the grill gate, trying to find a flaw in it. Days pass by, and Jenkin becomes obsessed with finding a solution. Then, one night, an idea suddenly strikes his mind. He uses paper to measure the depth of the keyhole and also its length. Jenkin then plans to use wood to prepare a makeshift key.

The following day, in the shower, he presents the idea to his partners in crime. Leonard believes that it will never work, but the other two reassure him that it will. Jenkin proposes that he can get wood from the workshop, but first, he needs to observe the original keys.

Later, at the canteen, the guys initiate their plan. Leonard causes a commotion, and when Meneer arrives to check, Jenkin has a good look at the shape of the keys.

From that day onwards, he never misses an opportunity to observe the keys, whether it be at the front yard, or during the morning assembly. Finally, after days of research, he manages to draw a rough draft on paper.

On the 74th day, Jenkin steals sandpaper and some wood from the workshop. He puts them inside his coffee thermos and stuffs a bunch of clothes so that they don’t rattle.

A while later, Meneer checks all the prisoners’ thermoses one by one to see if they have stolen something. When it’s Jenkin’s turn, he freezes in fear and Meneer notices it right away. Fortunately, even after a few good shakes, he doesn’t find anything suspicious inside the thermos and lets him go.

After the narrow escape, Jenkin goes straight to his cell and starts working on his first prototype. He chisels, cuts, and scrubs the wood, until a proper key is finally made. He nervously tries it on the door, and to his delight, it works!

But when Jenkin opens the grill door, his expression suddenly changes. It turns out the metal gate doesn’t have a keyhole on his side, meaning he will have to open it from the other end.

The next morning, Jenkin explains the situation to his friends and mentions that they will now have to make another key, and somehow find a way to open the second gate from outside.

Leonard, who has become ecstatic with the success of their first plan, is completely onboard. In the following days, the three observe the keyhole to the outdoor door, and Jenkin tries making a rough diagram of it.

Fortunately, after weeks of hard work, he successfully creates another wooden key. On the 100th day, the boys are moping the hallway and there are no guards around. Jenkin uses this opportunity to try out his new key. It is not as good as the first one, so he chisels it out to make it smoother.

The key fits, and the door opens, much to everyone’s joy. However, when Jenkin tries to get it out, it breaks. This causes panic among the boys, and to make matters worse, a guard starts approaching the hallway. Jenkin tries his best to close the lock, but to no avail.

In the end, he only manages to get the broken piece out, right before a giant guard arrives. In the next scene, after all the prisoners go inside their respective cells, Meneer arrives for a routine checkup. He notices Jenkin’s door lock sticking out, but doesn’t think much of it and simply closes the door.

Inside, Jenkin breathes a sigh of relief. On the 142nd day, the three gather in a room and discuss how to open the metal gate from the outside. Leonard suggests using a string but the guys quickly dismiss it, saying it cannot be turned.

After a while, Lee gazes at a broom and an idea strikes his mind. He takes it outside and starts measuring the distance from the window to the door. It is just a few inches short. The following day, while Jenkin is at the workshop, he notices a sewing machine.

He quickly goes to his cell and develops a similar mechanism, which he then attaches to the broom. That night, Jenkin places the wooden key on top of the broom, and tries it out.

The plan works; he successfully manages to open the gate. However, when he tries pulling it out, the key falls to the ground. This nearly gives Jenkin’s a heart attack, but he doesn’t give up.

He sticks a chewing gum on top of the broom, and uses it to retrieve the key back to his cell. Next morning during lunch time, he excitedly reveals to his friends how he managed to open both the gates.

Jenkin now wants to inspect the other areas of the prison so that they proceed to the next step. As all this is happening, Denis is keeping an eye on them. He again tells Jenkin to back out, but the latter has already made up his mind.

Day 206, some new walls have been constructed around the area, but the routine remains the same. Whenever out, the three boys try their best to inspect the surrounding areas.

Jenkin even manages to strike up a deal with the janitor. He wants the construction map of the prison, and in exchange, he will provide soaps and cigarettes. The trade takes place at the dumpsters, and fortunately, Jenkin manages to conduct it without getting noticed.

Day 296, he and Leonard make dummies in their bed, before sneaking out of their respective cells at night. They carefully climb down the stairs, until they reach another grill gate.

Jenkin chose this night because the giant guard is on duty. Because of his extremely obese body, he is slow and lazy. Despite this, the boys are nervous. They are sweating profusely with each passing second.

But luckily, they manage to open the gate, just as the giant guard gets up from his seat. It is time for his night patrol. Hearing his footsteps, Jenkin and Leonard hide in the store room and barely manage to keep the door closed.

Once the giant is gone, they come out and continue with their plan. Jenkin manages to open one more door, but before he could try out another one, Lee coughs upstairs, signaling that the giant guard has finished his patrol. So, Jenkin and Leonard hide in the store room once again.

On the way to his room, the guard notices the droplets on sweat on the floor, but he doesn’t think much of it. After he leaves, the boys head back upstairs.

Inside his cell, an excited Jenkin dismantles his keys in several pieces and keeps them inside his cup. He then goes to sleep, hopeful that he can escape and meet his beloved wife soon. The next morning, the warden enters the cell and wakes Jenkin up.

The latter has slept past the morning alarm. Enraged, the warden asks him why he overslept, but Jenkin can only apologize. So, his cell is given a proper search.

In the process, the cup on his shelf is knocked over, and all the wooden parts of the keys are revealed. The warden picks one of them and angrily asks ‘what is it?’ Jenkin, who is frozen in fear, nervously says that he made it as a photo holder.

Surprisingly, the warden buys it and leaves the room, but not before warning Jenkin to be careful next time. That night, our genius protagonist has a panic attack, making it difficult for him to sleep.

However, he narrates that every difficult situation teaches new things. So, from the next morning, he starts hiding the keys in different areas of the prison; like inside the library, the canteen, and even the dumpster.

One day, he and his friends also manage to steal civilian clothes from the laundry. All this while, Jenkin doesn’t clean or brush his teeth, hoping that he would get an infection. A few weeks later, he does get one, and when Meneer takes him to the doctor, he inspects the automatic gate.

It is Christmas Eve and the group has made all the necessary preparations. Inside a room, they disclose their elaborate plan to Denis and his friends. They have made 39 keys of different shapes and sizes for the 15 doors that they have to pass.

However, Denis refuses to join them, claiming that even if they escape, they will have nowhere to go. Nonetheless, he returns the money to Jenkin, hidden inside a toothpaste roll. Later, the warden conducts a checkup of all the cells, including Jenkin’s.

He turns the entire place upside down, but doesn’t find anything. In the evening, after all the officers are gone, Jenkin, Leonard and Lee get out of their cells and begin their escape plan.

Before leaving the hallway, Jenkin asks Denis one last time if he wants to join them, but again gets ‘no’ as a response. Following this, the boys gather all the keys that are hidden in different corners of the prison. They then dress up in civilian clothes and head downstairs.

Suddenly, they hear footsteps. It is the giant guard who is slowly approaching them. The boys quickly hide inside the store room, trembling in fear as they hold the door.

Soon, the guard arrives and notices the door slightly shaking, but before he can inspect, the electricity goes off. It turns out Denis has caused a short circuit by destroying his light bulb.

He and the others then start calling out for the guard, hoping to distract him. The plan works, and the giant guard reluctantly heads upstairs. Wasting no time, the three get out of the store room and rush to the next door.

With the help of their teamwork and the desire to reunite with their families, they manage to open the doors one after another. When it’s time for the automatic gate, Leonard swiftly goes to the admin room and successfully opens it by pressing a button.

Everything is going as planned, and they ultimately reach the final door; the door which separates them from freedom. However, to their horror, none of the keys work. Panic sets in.

Months of planning and hard work have been foiled by one single lock. Jenkin suggests that they go back to their cells, but Leonard is not ready to give up so easily. He brings out his chisel and starts pounding the door lock.

This makes a lot of noise, and Jenkin becomes terrified that they will be caught. But to his delight, the plan actually works. Leonard manages to break the lock and the door finally opens. The final obstacle is the sniper on the tower. However, since the boys are dressed in civilian clothes, they confidently head out.

No one suspects them, not even Meneer, who is having a conversation with someone nearby. After the boys reach a safe location, they run until they reach the city. Then, they get inside a cab and ask the driver to drop them off at the border.

The latter hesitates at first since they are white, but when Jenkin brings out his wad of cash, he agrees. In this way, Jenkin, Leonard and Lee finally escape the prison, after a year and a half of captivity.

The next morning, Meneer finds out about the escape and rings the alarm, but it’s too late. As he wanders around helplessly, Denis and the others start laughing.

In the final scene, the actual events that transpired after the prison break are revealed. The largest manhunt in South African history ensued, but the fugitives were never caught.

They crossed the border to Mozambique, then Tanzania, and finally London, where they rejoined the ANC and continued their protests against the Apartheid. In 1991, after more than a decade, they were pardoned.

On the other hand, Denis was exonerated in 1985 and he finally reunited with his wife and kids. As for Jenkin, he never met his wife, as by the time he returned to South Africa, she had already passed away. In 1992, the Apartheid fell, and in 1994, Nelson Mandela, the leader of the ANC, was elected as the President of South Africa.