Film Review of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

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


I think this is my favorite film version of Nelson Mandela and Winnie Mandela. I must say that Naomie Harris steals the show and I think her performance is fantastic. You can really feel her emotion throughout the entire film and it's really important to show Winnies part in the anti-apartheid struggle since she was such a key figure. What I didn't like about the film was that it did whitewash parts of the liberation movement. One thing was that for example they didn't really talk about the importance of the South African Communist Party, which was also a key figure in the struggle. I'm pretty sure they did this to please US audiences. But also, as the article by Benjamin Fogel points out, they made it seem that Mandela saved South Africa from the rest of the African National Congress (ANC) that was too "radical" for the West. However, despite all this, the film was mostly accurate and was enjoyable to watch.

Winnie Mandela, Nelson Mandela, and Joe Slovo (General Secretary of the SACP) at a 1990 rally in Soweto


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

I would say that the Mandela portrayed in the film is a mix of the "two Mandelas" from Fogel's article. We can see the anti-apartheid revolutionary throughout the film for a while, but towards the end we start to see the "mythical" Mandela, that is the peaceful South African president that united all of South Africa and supposedly ended racism. For example, in the beginning and the middle of the film, we see how Nelson Mandela and the ANC were very clear on their objective and how to achieve it. This includes their acts of civil disobedience and sabotage against the apartheid regime. Plus we see and hear Mandela's wonderful speech when he is on trial for being involved in the armed struggle. I think the moment of change is when the younger generations (the ones from the 70s and 80s) arrive to Robben's Island and they fight with Mandela. They seemed like the radicals that Mandelas had to stop and this is when we start to the see the mythical Mandela, the one that everyone loves (including the US that had him on their terrorist list and ex-apartheid supporters). Of course, after we see Mandela negotiating with members of the National Party and how his ANC comrades don't (rightfully) trust them.


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 played a very important role in the struggle against apartheid and we can really appreciate it in Naomie Harris's version of her. While Neslon was in jail, she took the rains of the ANC and participated in the United Democratic Front (UDF), but was also very controversial. This is mainly because of her support for "necklacing" where people would capture alleged informers or collaborators with the apartheid and they would spray them with petrol, put a rubber tire on them, and light them on fire. During the negotiation process, she said that the ANC executive body were "old men that just want to talk" while a many of the ANC base wanted to an end to apartheid, but also economic justice (as seen in the Freedom Charter). After the 1994 election, Winnie Mandela participated in the government, but was always critical about the lack of economic equality in South Africa.


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?

When people talk about human rights and conciliation, they refer to the processes of Chile and South Africa as "success" stories and how each nation "overcame" its dark past (Pinochet's dictatorship and South Africa's apartheid) through democratic and peaceful means (in the case of Chile, we had the plebiscite and South Africa had presidential elections). However, in both countries much of that dark past remains intact, especially in economic terms. In the case of South Africa, it still remains a very unequal society with a huge unemployment rate and commercialized basic services such as education and health. Although, the laws and institutions that created the apartheid are gone, there is a type of class apartheid because South Africa has become a neoliberal economy, which means that the market runs everything. In the case of Chile, we are also a very unequal country and almost everything is privatized (education, health, electricity, water, highways, etc.). Plus not to mention that Chile is also a neoliberal country and in institucional terms, we still have the constitution that was made during the dictatorship which allows its legacy to continue. I believe that there are many similarities between the Concertación and the African National Congress. The Concertación promised that they would undo the legacy of the dictatorship, but they ended up deepening it the ANC promised to nationalize natural resources and have universal education and healthcare and instead privatized public enterprises. Also, there is the fact that the ANC uses its legacy and figures like Nelson Mandela to get vote, while the Concertación (mostly the Socialist Party) use their legacy and figures like Salvador Allende to get votes and maintain certain support.