FILM | South Africa
Madiba
Madiba in the movies In honour of Nelson Mandela International Day, which falls annually on 18 July, Screen Africa takes a look at the various faces and films that have portrayed the freedom fighter, Madiba. Over the decades he has been played by distinguished actors that are either American or British. It wasn’t until 2013 that South African actor, Tumisho Masha, became the first local actor to be given the chance to portray the role of the former president in the upcoming biopic, Mandela’s Gun. Considering this film has seen its fair share of setbacks it is only fitting to look back on Mandela in the movies by starting with this famous quote of his: “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
2017 Madiba Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Winnie Mandela
Mrs. Mandela
Invictus
Laurence Fishburne The six-hour series is based on two Mandela books, Conversations with Myself and Nelson Mandela by Himself. Madiba is set to premiere on BET Networks in the US in 2017. Dynamic Television has worldwide distribution rights for the landmark miniseries, Madiba. Directed by Kevin Hook, who is the first black director of a Mandela project, and starring Laurence Fishburne as Mandela. Madiba is currently being filmed in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Robben Island, co-produced and financed by Toronto-based Blue Ice Pictures and South Africa’s Out of Africa Entertainment in association with UK’s Leftbank Pictures and Cinema Gypsy Productions. “Madiba will be the longest and most in-depth project detailing the story, which is vast and complex, and has never been told as comprehensively before. It provides an ideal platform to understand Mandela: the man, the myth, the mystery,” says Lance Samuels, president of Blue Ice. Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Kweku Mandela, of Out of Africa is co-producing with Daniel Iron, Neil Tabatznik, Steven Silver, Andy Harries and Loretha Jones.
2013 Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom Endgame
Goodbye Bafana
Mandela and de Klerk
Idris Elba
Based on Nelson Mandela’s 1994 autobiography of the same name, the film chronicles Mandela’s life journey from his childhood in the rural village of Qunu through his triumphant inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa. Idris Elba, who never met the legend, but developed relationships with Mandela’s family, took on the lead role. This British-South African biographical film was directed by Justin Chadwick from a script written by William Nicholson. Mandela was still in prison in 1989 when film producer Anant Singh sent word that he wanted to do a movie about his life. After Singh was given the rights to make the film, it took him and a team of filmmakers more than 19 years to bring it to screens worldwide.
2011 Winnie Mandela Terrence Howard Mandela 20 | SCREENAFRICA | July 2016
The film is an adaptation of the biography Winnie Mandela: A Life and delves into
her personal and political life, revealing her fight to overthrow apartheid, and the surrounding controversy that never seemed to fade. Starring American actors Jennifer Hudson as Winnie and Terrence Howard as Mandela. Directed and co-written by the SA filmmaker Darrel Roodt. Written with André Pieterse, the book was by Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob.
2010 Mrs. Mandela
David Harewood David Harewood plays Mandela in another film about his wife, Winnie Mandela, and her tumultuous journey from a shy country girl to a dogged revolutionary, as the world watched her relationship with her husband transform. Directed and written by Michael Samuels. Produced by British company Diverse Productions and the French company FR2.
2009 Invictus
Morgan Freeman Taking its title from the William Ernest Henley poem, which gave Mandela strength in jail, Invictus falls into the sports-inspirational genre. Morgan Freeman plays Mandela while he uses the nation’s appetite for sports as a pivot point to unite the apartheid-torn land. He enlists the help of the national rugby team, which goes on to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup, and the result captivates South Africa with what Mandela calls its moment of greatness. Freeman not only met Mandela but spent time with him to replicate the way he walked and talked; they also watched the film together. Directed by Clint Eastwood from a screenplay by Anthony Peckham, adapted from the book by John Carlin. Invictus was filmed in SA.
2009 Endgame
Clarke Peters A story based on the covert discussions that brought down the apartheid regime in South Africa. A British film directed by Pete Travis from a script by Paula Milne, based upon the book The Fall of Apartheid by Robert Harvey. The film was produced by Daybreak Pictures and Film Afrika Worldwide. It was filmed at locations in Reading, England and Cape Town.
2007 Goodbye Bafana Dennis Haysbert
Dennis Haysbert played the future president in Goodbye Bafana, known in the US as The Color of Freedom. Based on the memoirs written by James Gregory, who was the censor officer and prison guard to Mandela, the film recounts the intense effect Mandela had on the guard, and the relationship the pair developed during Mandela’s 18-year stay in prison on Robben Island. Haysbert admitted the role was daunting. Directed by Bille August who also adapted the script with Greg Latter from the book by James Gregory and Bob Graham. Produced by Film Afrika Worldwide.
1997 Mandela and de Klerk Sidney Poitier
In 1993 Time Magazine named Nelson Mandela and South African president F.W. de Klerk as its Persons of the Year. Four years later HBO showcased Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine in this two-hander. The film briskly synopsises three decades of Mandela’s life, focusing on the negotiations of de Klerk and Mandela to give blacks the vote, end apartheid and transform the nation into a rainbow democracy. Poitier met Madiba at a news conference in Cape Town. Directed by Joseph Sargent, written by Richard Wesley and produced by Film Afrika Worldwide.
1987 Mandela
Danny Glover Danny Glover was the first face of the icon in Hollywood’s first Mandela biopic, made while the soon-to-be president was still serving in Pollsmoor prison. In a script written by the South Africa-born Ronald Harwood and directed by BBC veteran Philip Saville. The film was shot in Zimbabwe with armed soldiers guarding the set. This HBO TV movie explores Mandela’s quest from a brilliant young lawyer to an avid anti-apartheid political activist. The tale depicts his time in jail and his wife’s perseverance to promote reconciliation between blacks and whites of South Africa. “Mandela’s great speech on the dock is not unlike King’s speech on the march on Washington in 1963,” said Glover, who met the legend on his first trip to Boston, Massachusetts in 1990. Compiled by Cera-Jane Catton