The Color of Freedom (2007)
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44% of critics liked it
(18 reviews) -
64% of users liked it
(245 ratings)
South Africa - 1968
Twenty-five million blacks are ruled by a minority of four million whites under the brutal Apartheid regime of the Nationalist Party Government. Black people have no vote, no land rights, no rights to freedom of movement, to own a business, to housing or education.… More
South Africa - 1968
Twenty-five million blacks are ruled by a minority of four million whites under the brutal Apartheid regime of the Nationalist Party Government. Black people have no vote, no land rights, no rights to freedom of movement, to own a business, to housing or education. Determined to retain power, whites ban all black opposition organizations, forcing their leaders into exile or imprisoning them for life on Robben Island.
James Gregory, a typical white Afrikaner, regards blacks as sub-human. Having grown up on a farm in the Transkei, he learned to speak Xhosa at an early age. This makes him an ideal choice to become the warder in charge of Mandela and his comrades on Robben Island. After all, Gregory speaks their language and can spy on them. However, the plan backfires. Through Mandela's influence, Gregory's allegiance gradually shifts from the racist government to the struggle for a free South Africa.
Goodbye Bafana tracks the unlikely but profound relationship between these two men. Through their unique friendship, we witness not only Gregory's growing awareness of man's inhumanity to man, but South Africa's evolution from Apartheid to a vibrant democracy.
The story, which documents how Mandela became the most inspirational political figure of the modern world, poses the questions: Who is the prisoner? And who sets whom free? --© Paramount Classics
- Directed By
- Bille August
- Written By
- Greg Latter, Bille August
- Genres
- Drama
R,
- In Theaters
- Dec 14, 2007 Wide
- Studio
- Paramount Classics
Critic Reviews
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John Hartl, Seattle Times
Director August once had a knack for telling stories of adolescent bonds, and he makes good use of one childhood flashback and a scene in which Bafana and Mandela blend into one person. For a moment, he achieves a balance the rest of the film lacks.
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Dave Calhoun, Time Out
Full marks to director Bille August for achieving the near-impossible: crafting a film about Nelson Mandela that threatens to send you to sleep and reduces the great man himself to mere background noise.
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Russell Edwards, Variety
Opportunities to emotionally bond with happenings onscreen are far and few between.
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Bill White, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The film is most interesting when showing the ignorance of the Afrikaners. The film falters when trying to address the complexities of the political issues.
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Andrew Wright, The Stranger (Seattle, WA)
Another well-meaning, dopily prosaic movie of the sort that often gets a mercy nomination thrown its way ... Does a severe disservice to a truly great history.
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