- Director: Philip Saville
- AMG Rating:
- Genre: Drama
- Movie Type: Biopic, Docudrama
- Themes: Social Injustice, Fighting the System, Race Relations
- Main Cast: Danny Glover, Alfre Woodard
- Release Year: 1987
- Country: UK/US
- Run Time: 135 minutes
Plot
Described as a "biographical drama," the made-for-TV Mandela is the story of South African human-rights advocate Nelson Mandela, who at the time this film was made was in the 25th year of a prison sentence. Covering the years 1948 to 1987, the film traces Mandela's (Danny Glover) matriculation from young lawyer to fervent anti-Apartheid political activist. At first a proponent of nonviolence, Mandela is radicalized after the Sharpeville massacre of 1960. Thrown in jail by the white-dominated government in 1962, Mandela passes the cudgel to his wife Winnie (Alfre Woodard), who perseveres despite constant persecution from the powers-that-be. Understandably concentrating on Mandela's private life, the film is somewhat wanting in terms of personal glimpses, but this is a forgivable creative lapse. Likewise excusable is the partisan nature of Ronald Harwood's teleplay. Filmed on location in Zimbabwe, Mandela originally ran 139 minutes when it first aired September 20, 1977 over the HBO Cable service; it was subsequently shortened to 135 minutes when shown on network television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideReview
This 1987 Philip Saville film chronicles human-rights activist Nelson Mandela's struggle against apartheid policy in South Africa. When director Saville shot the film, apartheid was still in force in South Africa, and Mandela was still in jail; thus, the cooperation of the South African government was out of the question. Nevertheless, to create an air of authenticity, Saville shot the film in Zimbabwe, which borders South Africa on the northeast. He also set the trial (in which Mandela was unjustly found guilty of treason) in a courtroom in Zimbabwe's capital, Harrare. Saville used African actors (including Tam Mpofu, Priscilla Mundawarara, and Mbuso Pityana) and filmed scenes in the homes of African citizens. In the starring role of Mandela, American actor Danny Glover invests his performance with his own abhorrence of separatist racial policy, and he presents a Mandela of courage, dignity, and resolve. Students of history will like the scope of the film: It begins when apartheid began, in 1948, and provides an overview of events thereafter. In the early 1990s, a few years after the film debuted, Mandela was released from jail, apartheid ended, and Danny Glover went to Africa to sit down and have breakfast with the very man he portrayed.~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
