Goodbye Bafana
Cert: 18 / R
Runtime: 2 hour 10 mins
Starring: Dennis Haysbert, Diane Kruger, Joseph Fiennes, Shiloh Henderson
Directed by: Bille August
Runtime: 2 hour 10 mins
Starring: Dennis Haysbert, Diane Kruger, Joseph Fiennes, Shiloh Henderson
Directed by: Bille August
There is no question about the importance of Nelson Mandela on the world stage. But somehow this film did not win over that stage.
Here's what our favourite resources say at time of writing:
Rotten Tomatoes - 50%
IMDb - 6.9
With Joseph Fiennes and Diane Kruger, it seems this film should have been higher profile.
Synopsis
South Africa, 1968. Twenty-five million blacks are ruled by a minority of four million whites under the brutal Apartheid regime of the Nationalist Party Government. Black people have no vote, no land rights, no rights to freedom of movement, to own a business, to housing or education. Determined to retain power, whites ban all black opposition organisations, forcing their leaders into exile or imprisoning them for life on Robben Island.
James Gregory, a typical white Afrikaner, regards blacks as sub-human. Having grown up on a farm in the Transkei, he learned to speak Xhosa at an early age. This makes him an ideal choice to become the warder in charge of Mandela and his comrades on Robben Island.
However, the plan backfires. Through Mandela's influence, Gregory's allegiance gradually shifts from the racist government to the struggle for a free South Africa.
Goodbye Bafana tracks the unlikely but profound relationship between these two men. The story, which documents how Mandela became the most inspirational political figure of the modern world, poses the questions: Who is the prisoner? And who sets whom free?
Was it as boring as the reviews said?
Rotten Tomatoes - 50%
IMDb - 6.9
With Joseph Fiennes and Diane Kruger, it seems this film should have been higher profile.
Synopsis
South Africa, 1968. Twenty-five million blacks are ruled by a minority of four million whites under the brutal Apartheid regime of the Nationalist Party Government. Black people have no vote, no land rights, no rights to freedom of movement, to own a business, to housing or education. Determined to retain power, whites ban all black opposition organisations, forcing their leaders into exile or imprisoning them for life on Robben Island.
James Gregory, a typical white Afrikaner, regards blacks as sub-human. Having grown up on a farm in the Transkei, he learned to speak Xhosa at an early age. This makes him an ideal choice to become the warder in charge of Mandela and his comrades on Robben Island.
However, the plan backfires. Through Mandela's influence, Gregory's allegiance gradually shifts from the racist government to the struggle for a free South Africa.
Goodbye Bafana tracks the unlikely but profound relationship between these two men. The story, which documents how Mandela became the most inspirational political figure of the modern world, poses the questions: Who is the prisoner? And who sets whom free?
Was it as boring as the reviews said?
