Goodbye Bafana (2007)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Bille August

Writers:

Bob Graham (book)
James Gregory (book)

Release Date:

11 April 2007 (Belgium)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History

Tagline:

Based on the memoirs of Nelson Mandela's prison guard

Plot:

GOODBYE BAFANA is the true story of a white South African racist whose life was profoundly altered by the black prisoner he guarded for twenty years. The prisoner's name was Nelson Mandela.

Plot Keywords:

Nelson Mandela | Prison Guard | Apartheid | 1980s | Prison Cell

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Joseph Fiennes	...	James Gregory
Dennis Haysbert	...	Nelson Mandela
Diane Kruger	...	Gloria Gregory
Patrick Lyster	...	Major Pieter Jordaan
Shiloh Henderson	...	Brett Gregory
Tyrone Keogh	...	Chris Gregory
Megan Smith	...	Young Natasha Gregory
Jessica Manuel	...	Natasha Gregory
Faith Ndukwana	...	Winnie Mandela
Terry Pheto	...	Zindzi Mandela
Leslie Mongezi	...	Walter Sisulu
Zingizile Mtuzula	...	Raymond Mhlaba (as Zingi Mtuzula)
Mehboob Bawa	...	Ahmed Kathrada
Shakes Myeko	...	Andrew Mlangeni
Sizwe Msutu	...	Cyril Ramaphosa

Also Known As:

Detenuto 46664 (Italy)
Goodbye Bafana (Germany)
Il colore della liberta' (Italy)
The Color of Freedom (USA) (DVD title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language including some sexual references.

Runtime:

140 min | France:118 min

Country:

Germany | France | Belgium | South Africa | Italy | UK | Luxembourg

Language:

English | Xhosa

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Ireland:15A | Germany:6 | Netherlands:12 | Sweden:11 | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:13 | South Korea:15 (TV rating) | USA:R | Taiwan:PG-12 | Denmark:11 | Norway:10 (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Cape Town, South Africa

Company:

Banana Films

Soundtrack:

Manqoba

Hand-picked for a spying job

This movie offers a chilling look at how forces of oppression prey on people who value civil liberties.

The Apartheid-era's secret service finds out that a Caucasian male, James, speaks the native language of Nelson Mandela (Madiba), also known as the 'African Gandhi', the leader of the African National Congress, jailed since 1963 for allegedly inciting riots against the mainstream.

They check James' background, and subsequently recruit him as a prison censorship officer - whose duties primarily include monitoring and destroying allegedly 'political' information, meetings with family, and correspondence. Prison inmates are only permitted to exchange correspondence and meet with family every six months while being watched by armed guards.

When Winnie Mandela comes to visit her husband, James is able to find out that their son has secured a driver's license. He then reports this to his superiors, and shortly thereafter, Nelson's son is reportedly killed in an 'accident'.

James continues to provide information, and is promoted. His wife and three children have been taught since inception to accept the oppression of Blacks as 'God's will' and not to question this. They have accepted that a line has been drawn between the whites and coloreds, and neither are permitted to mingle at any cost.

There are scenes in this movie where police and security forces do not even spare infants. Taking the cue from the United States' history, public transportation has a separate section for 'non-whites' at the very back of the bus.

Amongst this background the regime circulates rumors that the main agenda of the African National Congress is the 'extermination of whites'.

This movie is an eye-opener as to how right-winged regimes, including Canada, England, Australia, South Africa, and the United States of America, initiate their own kind to spy and destabilize the weak and the oppressed, using the power of the law, the judiciary, and prisons to silence and even deport/kill who dare to speak out against them.

Witness the treatment of the people of the First Nations (Aboriginal Indians) in Canada itself. It is no longer a secret that Adolf Hitler had sent a team to witness the atrocities carried out on them, so that they then, in turn, ill-treat Jews, bringing into question as to whether or not it was just the Nazis, as a whole, who were responsible for the Holocaust.

While ostensibly Canada claims to be a leader in 'human rights', the so-called 'Human Rights Commissions', headed by right-winged political appointees and queen's counsels, at both state and federal-level, have continued to 'not deal with' complaints with open impunity. Their main agenda is to promote and create a false scenario that there is no racism in Canada giving it (racial discrimination),bigotry and intolerance every opportunity to flourish without any checks.

While naive and often ignorant politicians are quick to point out human rights' abuses in developing countries, they turn a nelson's eye on violations carried out by the Government (all 3 levels, federal, state and local municipalities), local police services, unions, landlords, & c.. Some of these municipalities, and police services continue as exclusive clubs of the mainstream even in modern day Canada.

Many are fooled by the 'greener' pastures of North America, and it is only after they live here for sometime that most visible minorities come to know that they are ranked as second-class citizens, just as their Aboriginal brothers and sisters, with just one right - the right to complain - and then be ignored, spoken to condescendingly, subjected to delays, technicalities, bureaucratic corruption and inefficiency, and never be heard.

Lawyers (some of who end up as Judges) often refuse to represent visible minorities/aboriginals, very subtly and with a variety of frivolous reasons, in 'human rights' matters, compounding the problem even more, and thereby forcing many to give up their fight for their rights, while others end up in despair with emotional scars that never heal.

Many are not even aware that Canada is not even a democracy, but a Constitutional Monarchy.

Many have also realized that Apartheid-like conditions continue to persist in modern day Canada.

As for the Office of the Ombudsman, the less said the better. There is virtually no accountability or even a monitoring authority on this so-called impartial office, created initially as a watch-dog for the people, but has now been reduced to a fierce government guard dog. It is no wonder that it is commonly referred to as the office of 'all show and no go'.

As for 'Civil Liberty' organizations, mostly dependent on government grants and funding, are reduced to mere paper tigers, with little or no active involvement to improve laws that benefit vulnerable Canadians, leaving politicians, and government (all 3 levels) officials to carry on breaking a variety of laws with open impunity. A number of these 'civil rights' organizations are chaired by right-winged queen's counsels, and have a vested interest in maintaining a status quo at the expense of vulnerable Canadians.

Kindness and compassion are a thing of the past. Period.

It is thus rightly said "The true measure of society is how they treat their most vulnerable".