Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom film analysis

Mandela: Long walk to Freedom is a South-African/British biopic that chronicles the journey of Nelson Mandela from his rural upbringings to the moment he is elected as the president of South Arfica. Based on the autobiography by the same name.

1. In general, what did you like and dislike about the film?

In terms of filmaking this movie is very solid. All the technical aspects are well polished, i is apparent it was made with heart. I like the fact that it does not downplays the role of other people in the struggle. Mostly when it comes to Winnie redeeming his role in history, often overlooked at. It also does not shy away from mandelas troubeled home life, maybe because this was present in the the book, but i am happy to see they were true to the source material.

One thing i did´nt like its the pace, its suffers because they have to adapt a while book into a limited time, and feels like they didn´nt wanted to exclude anything so at times the movie feels rushed and some stuff is not explored ath the depth it could.

2. In your own words, how would you compare the "various Mandelas;" the ones from the article and the one from the film?

When someone becomes such a famous public figure, everyone starts having different definitions, and idealizations of the character of that person, so knowing the "true" Mandela cant never be fully acheived, for some, he is the liberator of his people, for others, he was not revolucionary enough, and accused of giving in to withe´s demands. In this case we have an adaptation of mandelas own accounts of his life. This adds another layer of interpretation of the journey Nelson Mandela chose to have.

3. What was the role that Winnie Mandela played in the film? Think about the contrast between her and the other ANC members.

Winnie Mandela poses an interesting counterpart to Mandela´s way of carrying a revolution. Both having equally valid arguments and reasons for their behavior, they were opposite to each other, but complementary non the less. Mandela was a patient man, knowing apartheid had no future, chose to condone any kind of violence, trying to set aside his resentment for the greater good of an united southafrica, meanwhile Winnie, in the outside world,  had become much more active, and radical, product of the suffering the extreme repression and violence against blacks the goverment had incurred. In this case Mandela seemed the only safe option to end the conflict, and he knew it, the apartheid was not sutainable anymore, and he offered a peacful out for the whites, basically tying the hands of the government, and leaving them no potion but to surrender to the demands of the people.

4. How do you compare the role of Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress in the struggle against the apartheid and in the post-apartheid South Africa to the Concertación and their role in the struggle against Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship and in post-dictatorial Chile?

You could make a lot of paralels between the dictatorship in chile and the apartheid regimen in southafrica. Both stories are of a opressed people´s democratic triumph over brutal ideoligical oligarchic facist dictatorships. But also, the story of a failed transition, the story of two countries that have not yet healed from a traumatic past, wich problems of inequality have not disapeared, and dont seem to have and end thanks to an adoption of  a neoliberal capitalistic way of living.