SuperSunday: Goodbye Bafana

Super Sundays
Goodbye Bafana (2007)

Billie August presents this moving true story, following the life of James Gregory, prison warden to influential black-rights hero Nelson Mandela. The tale is beautifully shown by August's skillful direction and excellent choice of filminh locations. This film is not only emotionally potent, but beautiful.
     James Gregory is an average white man in 1970s South Africa. He's a prison guard, wildly suspicious of the black population, and has a similarly strung wife and two kids. However, his childhood knowledge of the black language Xhosa means that the South African government put him in to watch over Nelson Mandela. In the prison he starts to get to know and empathise with Mandela. Looking further and further into the horrors of Apartheid, Gregory starts to fight between his duties of country, and of conscience.
     I can't talk much about "plot", so to speak, as this is a true tale, but it is dramatised exceedingly well. All three leads play their parts to the full, and the genuine feeling of fraterntity between Joseph Fiennes and Dennis Haysbert makes Mandela's release at the end of the film all the more powerful. The film presents an exceedingly positive view of humanity on the whole; in all of our petty, rascist  squabblings, the worst of us can still rise above it and treat other with respect. This is emphathised by Mandela and Gregory's relationship throughout the film.
     As above, the film is aesthetically beautiful, which counterpoints the harsh dealings occuring in the prisons and really helps to highlight the plight of these peoples. August's direction is superb, with wonderful shots and a flexible attitude in regards to setting and character. The music score only reinforces the film's poignancy as well as fitting perfectly with the setting.
     Ultimately, this is a perfect dramatisation of the long period of Apartheid. The film takes no prisoners in regard to the idiotic and harmful nature of white-black rascism but it also paints a positive picture about the goodness of humanity. A must-see.

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