Long Walk to Freedom
“I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.” Nelson Mandela Student: Studentnr.: Class: Date:
Manon Leenaars 2166539 CO3D 17 June 2014
Summary/ Review Production year: 2013 Runtime: 146 mins Directors: Justin Chadwick Cast: Deon Lotz, Idris Elba, Naomie Harris, Naomie Harris, Terry Pheto Nelson Mandela is a South African lawyer who joins the African National Congress in the 1940s when the law under the Apartheid system's brutal tyranny proves useless for his people. Forced to abandon peaceful protest for armed resistance after the Sharpeville Massacre, Mandela pays the price when he and his comrades are sentenced to life imprisonment for treason while his wife, Winnie, is abused by the authorities herself. Over the decades in chains, Mandela's spirit is unbowed as his struggle goes on in and beyond his captivity to become an international cause. However, as Winnie's determination hardens over the years into a violent ruthlessness, Nelson's own stature rises until he becomes the renowned leader of his movement. That status would be put to the test as his release nears and a way must be found to win a peaceful victory that will leave his country, and all its peoples, unstained. I think it’s a great movie because it shows the acts of racism and the way they are dealt with. The movie shows that Mandela knew, like no other, that in the end there’s only one way to get rid of racism. That was to remove the fear from the white man. By making sure black people were not seen as a threat. It seems like “Apartheid” is a long time behind us. But no matter how you call it, it is unfortunately that racism never seems to lose its popularity. Not even that long ago Geert Wilders made some statements that made the entire Dutch society talk about. We all know the statement but just to make clear he said: “Would you like more or less Moroccans?”, which was followed by a crowd yelling: “less”. The analogy the two situations have in common is the way people react to it. Because there is always a group that thinks mister Wilders’ statements are reasonable. But there now seems to be a bigger understanding then before that the way we think about each other (certain races) is getting out of hand. The situation in the Netherlands can be compared to the Apartheid in South Africa. I think the Moroccans proved Wilders was wrong by protesting without violence against his statements. This shows that Dutch society thinks Moroccans are less of a threat than a couple of years ago.
Movie Analysis The movie “Long Walk to Freedom” released in 2013 is based on the autobiography written by Nelson Mandela. William Nicholson, also known for writing screenplay for “the Gladiator”, wrote the screenplay. The difficult task of playing Mandela was cut out for Idris Elba. Who can also be seen in the action movies “Pacific Rim” and “Thor”. This autobiographical drama was released for the Dutch audience in December 2013. The life of Mandela is shown to you in 141 minutes. The person responsible for shooting and assembling this movie is Justin Chadwick. 1 It’s a movie that portrays what lessons we learn in life, and how our own opinions are open to question, as we grow older. The one telling this story is Mandela, Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. The way as he was depicted in the news he always seemed controlled, and was the keeper of peace in South Africa. In this new picture it becomes clear, Mandela was not always the peace loving man we all thought he was. It shows that he has bad characteristics just like everyone else. John Legend sings about having “perfect imperfections”. I sure never could figure what those imperfections could be what he was singing about. After seeing this movie, it became clear to me. Even flaws can work productive towards a certain cause. These “perfect imperfections” made Mandela achieve peace and understanding between two seemingly opposing groups. Nelson may have had his times where he was violent, and didn’t take care of his family the right way. But combined with his persistence, endurance and strong believe it made him deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.
The opening of the movie is when young Nelson Mandela starts his journey to adulthood. His name given by his own tribe is “Rohihlahla”, which means troublemaker. The voice from Mandela is used as narrator. He speaks about: what growing up meant in his culture. And what responsibilities lay behind being an adult in his tribe. This is what the viewer needs to see, to understand Mandela’s conviction and beliefs later on. This set up, or introduction was done very 1
Bron: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2304771/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
correctly and creates an emotional connection between Mandela and the viewer. Throughout the movie you wonder if his actions later on, are still in line with the upbringing he had. Since it’s autobiographical and most of us know what is going to happen, the restricted narration still works as a charm. You are never sure when, what is going to happen, and you occasionally find out new facts about Mandela’s life. The depth of information sometimes stays behind as to what it should be in my opinion. Because it would have been really interesting to get more inside of the head of Mandela. Because it seems like he had no hard feelings after leaving his first wife in the movie. Hard to believe for a loveable person he is. Sometimes it should also go further into the political landscape from those times. To get a more political background in this movie. Where now only Nelson Mandela’s struggle is shown.
It takes place in early 1920’s. His first professional career move was as a lawyer. His job was defending the black population against the laws who were not in favor of the black man and woman. In this career and throughout his entire life, Mandela encountered several racial conflicts with white men. Which made him believe, change was needed. Choosing to be peaceful did not longer work in his eyes. This is still part of the set up, which makes the rest of his actions, though presumed violent, understandable. He started his political career in a rather extreme way by fighting violence with violence. When fighting the white colonial ruler of South Africa he comes across several experiences, which refine his view on politics of this matter.
The causes and effects change the pattern within the plot. It shows in this movie because you can tell the changes in the characters behaviour in the entire movie. Every experience (cause) activates a change (effect) in the pattern of the movie. For example from a violent pattern to a peaceful pattern. The binary opposition between peaceful and violent is an interesting one, particularly when this change occurs within one person. Mandela was portrayed as a man without worries. When the ANC, which stands for African National Congress, approached him to have a more important role within the organisation he ignored them. The congress had the intention to get equal rights for everybody, black or white. When asking him, Mandela said: “When I am better qualified, better dressed and richer than they are, they won’t call me boy anymore”. Boy was racial slang used to denigrate the black man. When a young black man was beaten to death for not showing his ID, Mandela changed his thoughts and came back on the offer to pick up his role within the ANC.
This changes the entire plot of the movie. Because we now see all members of the ANC carry out attacks on White African government buildings. These actions were directed by Mandela, he also took part in them. This is in contrast with getting the Nobel Prize. It didn’t take long before the pattern in the movie changed again. Mandela was arrested and sued for actions against the state. Even though the judge said Mandela held a compelling argument and speech for the reprimands he made, he convicted Mandela and the other members of the ANC to lifelong imprisonment.
This time at Robben Island was very hard from the start on. The use of camera standpoints was done very well. The shots gave you the feeling like you were there, up close in person with the rest of the ANC members. You can tell it is going to be a hard time when the head of prison is telling you: “It’s a shame they didn’t hang you, I am going to make sure you wish they had”. After setting it up, and changing patterns, the movie is working to its climax. Because the beginning of the end is Mandela getting in prison. This is the last big change in point of view for him. He realizes that racism isn’t born its taught. But when one group of people fears another group, they will try to empower them, so they will not be dominated by the ones they fear themselves. This is what Mandela realizes and starts to change his tactics. At first the guards treat the prisoners like dirt. Mandela maintains his good attitude throughout his entire time in prison. He stays calm, even when he finds out his firstborn passed away and is not allowed to visit the funeral. There is one shot during imprisonment where he has chalk on his entire body from working in some sort of grove. This is reason for one of few flashbacks to his younger days. When becoming an adult in his own tribe they have white sand or chalk on their face. Once they wash it away they become adults, so they can start of with a clean slate. When he washes away the chalk during imprisonment, it feels like he is symbolically washing away all his negative energy.
After all this time and constant denigrating from the guards on Robben Island, there seems to be a change in the relationship between prisoners and guards. Mandela even seems to be good with the guards. When the war between native Africans and the white government gets out of hand, Mandela seems to be the one to bring back peace between the two groups. President during that time was Frederik Willem de Klerk. He was the one to include Mandela into negotiations. De Klerk understood that not making Mandela president was going to drive the black society wild. This was the first time black and white worked together since a long time. This resulted into Mandela being the first black president of South Africa and brought back a time of peace. The climax as spoken of before is reached. The struggle experienced by the black population is finally rewarded. One of their own people has the most important function in government. I always thought Mandela was like Mahatma Gandhi, but this movie gave me a lot more respect for Mandela as a leader. He learned by pain and mistakes how to bring people together. The entire movie is channeled towards this point, and even though we knew what was going to happen they made it very interesting to watch. One of the most important story lines is about the female relations Mandela has. He is a real ladies man. During every change of pattern, during his change of view it looks like he changes wives. When he started to get violent and put more time in his battle on racism he lost his first wife. When he was the prominent fighter for equal rights in a non-violent way, he met his second ex wife. Winnie Mandela. During his imprisonment his wife had a lot to chew. She was harassed by policemen daily, got arrested and was taken away from her kids. Her fighting mentality grew worse every day while Mandela’s mentality changed for the best. So there was a conflict when her husband returned with a really positive attitude, and was no longer interested in violent protesting. She felt betrayed and they grew apart. For Nelson Mandela the cause always had more priority, than he had for his own wives or kids. This movie makes the viewer understand that life wasn’t easy for Winnie or previous wives. It is nice to see the other side of the story for once. The plot is pretty much goal orientated, but because it’s autobiographical it is hard to put it in a box. Because the plot is nonfiction. The original story as written by Mandela, came together by investigation. But referring to this movie we will call it goal orientated.
The Theory In my strong believe Nelson Mandela is a hero! I looked up the meaning of a hero and the definition of a hero is: A hero is someone who is willing to place the survival needs of others above his own, and loves and has compassion for others, And who is inspiring to others. Based on this theory I can Cleary tell you why Nelson Mandela is my hero. Nelson Mandela is a hero because of him we live in a democratic world. Because he understands what it means to fight against enormous odds, because he remained unbeaten and unbowed, despite tremendous outward oppression, because he showed that words are much more powerful than weapons. Because he was arguing for the rights of South Africa to be free. Nelson Mandela is hero because he stopped apartheid in South Africa. He believed that one day all the South African’s sit and live together. He risked his own life to set freedom to all black South African’s. With all his struggles and fights against the Apartheid he is a inspiring person for many others who believe and fight for a better world for everyone.
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Bron: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_it_means_to_be_a_hero?#slide=5
The Shot
Mise-en-scene: Alleyway Setting: Burning Passports Costume and makeup: proper but cheap clothes, light earth colours, no makeup Lighting: Natural light Movement and performance: Pain, disappointment, static shot For this part of the review I chose the (in my opinion) most powerful shot. This is where Mandela and others throw their passports into some kind of small campfire. During this scene, you can hear Mandela telling as a narrator: “We no longer have to accept the authority of a state, that makes war on his own people.� Mandela is first to throw his passport into the flames. The others join him in this opinion and also burn their passports. The fire and the passports are the most important props in this scene. Because it seems scary to me to burn a document that proves your existence. There is no makeup used yet. Later on in the movie makeup becomes an important tool to give Idris Elba an older face. The location is in some sort of narrow alleyway. This makes the setting perfect; it keeps the ceremony small and intense. Again it is shot like your down there burning your passport with Nelson Mandela. The acting performance from Idris Elba is excellent in this shot. He has a very believable and emotional face. Nelson is shot from below to make him more important than everybody else, because everybody else is shot from above to make them the crowd that follows Mandela. The scene time is very short but very impressive.
Conclusion Long walk to freedom is title well chosen for this movie. From growing up to spending a long time of his life on Robben Island, it has been a long walk to freedom. For Mandela as well as the African people. . I will start by telling that the only small downside is the makeup that is used for making Mandela older. It was real easy to tell it was fake. But this had no effect on Elba’s acting performance. I think Idris Elba managed to put on a truly convincing Mandela, with the voice and posture of the powerful leader he was. There is not a boring moment in this movie, because the environment is a dynamic one and the actors seem to feel comfortable in that environment. It is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time having said that, I can tell that this movie opened my eyes in a lot of ways. Since the passing of Mandela I did a lot of research and watching this movie reassured me in my positive view on Mandela. As I told before this movie made Mandela human like all of us. Even he makes mistakes but he’s a great example for everyone. The atmosphere in the movie is shot perfectly; it has an intense realistic vibe. This is a must see for young and old, for people with or without knowledge what happened back then. I believe your look on racism has changed forever after watching this movie.
Resource list www.filmart.nl/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2304771/ http://filmartblog.altervista.org/ http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_it_means_to_be_a_hero?#slide=5
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