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The Color of Freedom

Goodbye Bafana

South Africa, Belgium, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy

2007

117 Min
Color
2.35:1
Xhosa, English
  • Currently 3.0/5 Stars.
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DIR Bille August

PROD Jean-Luc Van Damme, Ilann Girard, Andro Steinborn

SCR Bille August, Greg Latter

DP Robert Fraisse

CAST Dennis Haysbert, Joseph Fiennes, Diane Kruger

ED Hervé Schneid

PROD DES Tom Hannam

MUSIC Dario Marianelli

Berlinale: Peace Film Award

Synopsis

James Gregory once lived in a farm and had befriended a native youth, Bafana, and had even had a photograph taken with him. Years later, now married to Gloria and father of three children (Chris, Brett, and Natasha), James has nothing but shame and regret, as many South African Caucasians in the oppressive Apartheid-era ridiculed him, leading him to hate Africans. He seeks to redeem himself by spying on imprisoned African National Congress Leader, Nelson Mandela. In the restrictive high security prison his job is to censor all written and verbal communications between prisoners, their visitors, and correspondence. James is uncomfortable when he witnesses Caucasian police and security officers’ brutality against civilians, including infants, and tries to understand why Nelson became a rebel. This leads him to examine the ‘Freedom Charter’, a banned document, reportedly known to incite violence against ‘whites’. And when he does read this document, he changes his mind about Nelson’s freedom struggle. Soon he, himself, will be alienated by his very own peers. Isolated, he receives death threats over the phone and has to face the trauma of the ‘accidental’ death of Brett. In addition, he and his family are kept under close watch by the security forces amidst tight economic sanctions by the international community, and growing unrest by the natives who continue their fight for equality, and freedom for Nelson Mandela. –IMDb

Director

Original

Bille August

Bille August (born November 9, 1948) is a Danish film and television director. Most of his projects have been in co-operation with Swedish production and with a mainly Swedish cast. He was partially educated in Sweden and also married to Swedish actress Pernilla August from 1991 to 1997. His film Pelle the Conqueror from 1987 won both the Palme D’or, Academy Award and Golden Globe. He is one of the very few directors to win the Palme D’or twice, winning the prestigious award again in 1991 for The Best Intentions, based on the autobiographical script by Ingmar Bergman. He later went to Hollywood, directing several films, but so far none have been as successful as his early work. —Wikipedia 

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Displaying 2 wall posts.
Picture of Monique

Monique

26May12

“When those in power deny you your freedom, the only path to freedom is power.”

Avery Morrow

10Apr11

I neglected to read the reviews before I watched this, it's a terrible movie that was not based on a true story. Waste of $3. Oh well. At least it had some nice depictions of apartheid SA.

  • pflombard

    24Oct11

    Really, not worth the watch? So sad that only international filmmakers make movies of our freedom fighters, and then they do it badly.

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