Film Review: Goodbye Bafana

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

I like how the relationship between James Gregory and Nelson Mandela grows and evolves during the movie. It shows interesting things about them and a side of the story, even though we don’t know exactly how true to reality it is, it highlights an interesting dynamic between the characters. Also I liked the acting, the actors did a great job giving life to them in the screen, I like to the think it was pretty much truth to how they were in real life.

I didn’t enjoyed the timing of the movie, it gave a very distracting rythm to the story.

2. Who was the character you liked the most and the character you liked the least in the film? Why?

The character that I liked the most was James Gregory. The fact that a white cop becomes close and creates a very emphatic relationship with a black activist like Mandela it’s a very interesting story to tell, it’s the kind of story that deserves to be told.

I don’t like Gloria Gregory, not as a character but as a person. I think the character does well embodying the thoughts and acts of white south africans supporting the apartheid.

3. How do the versions of James Gregory, Nelson Mandela, and Winnie Mandela compare between  Goodbye Bafana and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom?

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In Long Walk To Freedom you can’t see the reasoning behind Gregory’s acts, which is very interesting. In this movie he is a secondary character and the movie focus much more on Mandela’s personal story and how he becomes this political and social figure of change.

In Goodbye Bafana, Mandela’s it’s not as present as in the first movie but it portrays him almost in the same way.

In the first movie that we watched, James Gregory it’s not seen as a complex character, he is nothing more than a chapter in Mandela’s life. In the movie the movement it’s not as talked about but more in an implicit way.