Diagonaldi Very well executed
ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!
Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.
Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful
SnoopyStyle James Gregory (Joseph Fiennes) with language skills is recruited as the censor officer to watch over prisoner Nelson Mandela (Dennis Haysbert). His wife Gloria (Diane Kruger) is eager for the promotion. He is a true believer in fighting the African communists and would prefer to have Mandela hung for treason. His childhood on a farm and friendship with native boy Bafana had taught him the languages. James starts to see problems with the oppressive apartheid system and becomes an advocate for Mandela's rights.By all s, James Gregory was a professional jailer and a kind one as much as they were allowed to be. I don't see any big problems with some minor tall tales. There may be some history police coming for this. The movie faces bigger problems. James Gregory could never face more danger than the situation for other people during this time. It feels minor by comparison no matter how much the movie pumps it up. Haysbert is a solid Mandela. He doesn't have the look but he does have the presence. Joseph Fiennes is a great actor and a solid lead here.
Ursula Schmidt "Goodbye Bafana" is a compelling film, which is worth watching. If you want to learn more about the past of South Africa and about Nelson Mandela, you should have a look at "Goodbye Bafana". This film was directed by Bille August and shows the everyday life of Mandela and Gregory, a prison guard, on Robben Island where Mandela was in arrest.The main character James Gregory is presented as a serious and irritable man but when he meets Nelson Mandela, he becomes a warm-hearted guy. In the beginning he is a er of Apartheid but when working with Nelson Mandela for a long time, he changes his opinion and begins to doubt his habits. In contrast to that, Nelson Mandela is a quiet and peaceful person. Furthermore, he is clever because he has a good legal education and is not fooled by anyone. The scene in which Mandela is released from prison is the best scene because it's a peaceful and happy moment in this film. Mandela's time-consuming and hard work paid off. In the end you can say that it is a great film about the story and life of Nelson Mandela and it's based on a true story.
sddavis63 Any movie that deals with Nelson Mandela is a movie worth watching in my opinion. He is perhaps the only person in the world I can think of to whom I would apply the adjective "great." He was a man who could have lived in bitterness and anger all his life, seeking revenge when he finally achieved power, but who instead chose to devote himself to democracy and peaceful reconciliation between blacks and whites in South Africa. This movie, which I saw under the title "The Color Of Freedom," is interesting because although it deals extensively with Mandela, doesn't actually look at events from his perspective. The story is actually told from the perspective of James Gregory (played convincingly by Joseph Fiennes) - who as a prison guard slowly advancing up the ranks - met Mandela (played by Dennis Haysbert) in 1968 and gradually developed a relationship of trust and respect with him.There's enough background information to give the viewer a taste of what South African life was like under apartheid, but the story isn't really about that. It's more a story of Mandela's impact on Gregory. At the start of the movie, Gregory came across as basically just another white South African, committed to apartheid and devoted to maintaining the white hold on "their" country. But slowly, as Gregory comes to know Mandela, he changes. Mandela's graciousness as well as his fierce devotion to his cause impacts Gregory, who suddenly begins to see Mandela not as a black terrorist out to kill whites but as a human being seeking basic dignity and equality.Fiennes performance was very strong. Haysbert had a tough challenge. It surely isn't easy playing a man who is literally a living legend. He did well with the part, but it was difficult to accept him as Mandela. The portrayal of the racism that was so deeply ingrained in South African society was at times almost painful to watch. I suppose the biggest weakness of the story is that it's been denied by many people - apparently including Mandela. He did develop a strong relationship with one of his white guards, but it wasn't Gregory, who seems to have taken some liberty in the he shares in his book, from which the movie was made. He is unfortunately dead and unable to answer to those criticisms. Still, this is a moving story, and there is truth behind it apparently, and it clearly established the qualities that made Mandela the great man he is, who accomplished the great things he managed.
Boromir28 I had great expectations for this movie as Nelson Mandela is by far the most important political figure of our age(second perhaps only to Ghandi), and as such he deserves every bit of homage that can be sent his way."Goodbye Bafana" should have been the paramount praise for this extraordinary man, yet it never reaches the potential that lurks just beneath the surface.One reason for this is the fact that the time frame that has to be covered is too big for the time set aside telling it. As a result, the movie jumps from episode to episode or from highlight to highlight because every aspect of the two men has to be told. This way of telling the story leaves the characters under developed and rather one dimensional. Especially the change in Gregory (Fiennes)from bigot to humanitarian seems to happen overnight. The leading men are excellent as the prisoner and the guard, but the pace of the movie is too fast and does not give time to delve into the relationship, because there are so many events that have to be covered.The movie receives 5 stars for the acting and the settings, the direction prevents it from achieving greatness.
