South Africa and Apartheid in Film

1. Who was your favorite character from the film? Why? I want to start off by saying this movie was really incredible and I'm glad this course gave me the opportunity to watch it; it made me emotional and angry, I even cried and sometimes snapped at the screen while seeing it. There's a lot of amazing characters throughtout the film, but my favorite has to be Steve Biko because he was so ahead of his time and constantly spoke such wise words, it sometimes got me thinking maybe he deserved a Nobel Peace Prize even more than Nelson Mandela. Anyways, Biko is portrayed really beautifully in the movie and I think his character being shown through a white south african's eyes, who at first disliked him but then becomes his friend, is proof that the words he spoke and the pain he felt could be understood simply beacuse of common sense, no need to be black or on the worst side of oppression. Another characters I really liked were: Donald Woods' friend Father Kani, becau...

1. In general, what did you like and dislike about the film? I think so far this movie has been my favorite because it feels a lot more real than the other two we watched before, maybe because the director wasn't trying to portray the protagonist as a perfect hero, but rather as a dynamic character who evolves throughout the movie and has his own struggles and flaws. Comparing it to Goodbye Bafana, we can clearly see how one exalted the main character way too much while the other let Patrick Chamusso's personality evolve naturally along the film. One particular scene that I really liked was right after the military ambushed the ANC quarters and members from both organizations died, and the movie shows a parallel between the funerals. That part just made me so emotional, seeing all the people who were fighting to end the apartheid sing and mourn their losses that way was really moving and beautiful. Also, because the official funeral from the south african government was cold...

1. In general, what did you like and dislike about the movie? What I liked the most about the film Goodbye Bafana was probably the new perspective it gives us to get to know the south african apartheid, since the story is told through a white protagonist. While it seems obvious that the relationship between James Gregory and Nelson Mandela was overdone to create a bigger cinematographic impact, I thought the bond between the two is a pretty good way to showcase the part of white South Africa that actually supported Mandela and his quest to end the apartheid once and for all. A detail I especially liked was the parallel made between the deaths of Mandela and Gregory's sons, since it shows really clearly the governmental oppression that came with showing a supportive attitude towards public figures or ideas against white supremacy. Something I disliked about the movie was that it seemed a bit rushed at parts and the flashbacks from Gregory's childhood weren't properly ac...

1. In general, what did you like and dislike about the film? Personally, I liked the movie "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" because it was well made, I was especially impressed by the good quality and diversity of the shots. On a less technical and more focused on the content note, I think the emotions of the characters were very well represented by the actors, the scenes where all the people were summoned to watch Nelson Mandela speak and at the end they all chanted and marched together were very great and exciting; inspiring even. What I disliked about the movie is, as stated on the article The Two Mandelas, that it's clear that it was made following the real life events experienced by Nelson Mandela, but never touching topics that could be controversial among American or western audiences in general, like the importance of The Communist Party of South Africa in the fight to end the apartheid or the radicalism of the ANC that the movie tries to conceal. Overall...