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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 03/10/2007 : 14:51:45
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Goodbye Bafana not only tells us little we don't already know about Nelson Mandela's wasted decades in a South African jail, it's not really about the great man.
Yes, here's yet another let's look back at Africa tale focusing on a white man. In this case he's Joseph Fiennes - not doing a terrible job with this thin story - playing a Xhosa-speaker prison guard assigned to keep tabs on Mandela and his cronies. That he develops something approaching respect, if not dollops of affection is hardly the stuff of great drama.
First of all the script seems to equate the rejection of his peers as a 'kaffir lover' [the Boer equivalent of 'nigger'], resulting in a couple of bar-room brawls - with the too-little seen horrendous brutality inflicted on black prisoners. I found this imbalance truly offensive.
I suppose the filmmakers wanted us to examine who was the real prisoner. Get real indeed!
As to Dennis Haysbert's portrayal, well, I found it external. It's not just the accent - I don't really expect accuracy from Americans [which is why it's so remarkable when it happens]. But when I think of the glimpses we've had of Mandela - whether on the news or joking with the Spice Girls or having a surprise garden presented to him by a UK gardening show -- he absolutely oozes quiet authority and a charming combo of gravitas and twinkle.
It's not that Haysbert is terrible, but he never rises above the challenge. Clearly he's worked very hard to master his Xhosa dialog and demonstration of stick-fighting, but something more profound was needed. I was tempted to say he relies on his height and mien to indicate authority, which would be going too far. But, just as he never really convinced me he was POTUS in 24, he just ain't Mandela.
Surely it can't be impossible to find a genuine African actor for what might be - in another script - the role of a lifetime. Because if there's one name who tops lists [certainly here in the UK] of real-life contemporary heroes, it's Nelson Mandela. And the world needs a film about him as wonderful as the man himself.
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Edited by - BaftaBaby on 03/10/2007 15:49:45 |
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Salopian 
"Four ever European"
The European Union
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Posted - 03/10/2007 : 15:22:34
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I agree that Haysbert [we may as well get his name right when slating him  ] gives a woeful performance, and is such a poor match physically that it is a wonder that he got cast. I also agree in principle that there have proportionately been too many films about Africa focusing on white people. However, while white men may have most of the money, people can make films about what they like - if people want different films, then let them make them. Also, the case of South Africa and apartheid is different - it's a white story as well as a black one.
In contrast, I thought Fiennes was good. My main problem with the film is the issue of how accurate his character's book was. Reinvention of one's past is of course completely standard, but it still sits a little uncomfortably.
The film tries to present both characters as just ordinary men, but unfortunately it does nothing to temper the lionising of Mandela that BaftaBabe seems to subscribe to.  Sure, he's a great man, but like anyone else he's got some faults - some real faults - and it seems to be almost sacriligious to criticise him. This is not to say that I wasn't moved to tears when he was released etc. etc. like anyone else. But I would really hate a biopic to be made while he's still alive. |
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BaftaBaby
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 03/10/2007 : 15:52:35
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quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
I agree that Haysbert [we may as well get his name right when slating him ] gives a woeful performance, and is such a poor match physically that it is a wonder that he got cast. I also agree in principle that there have proportionately been too many films about Africa focusing on white people. However, while white men may have most of the money, people can make films about what they like - if people want different films, then let them make them. Also, the case of South Africa and apartheid is different - it's a white story as well as a black one.
In contrast, I thought Fiennes was good. My main problem with the film is the issue of how accurate his character's book was. Reinvention of one's past is of course completely standard, but it still sits a little uncomfortably.
The film tries to present both characters as just ordinary men, but unfortunately it does nothing to temper the lionising of Mandela that BaftaBabe seems to subscribe to. Sure, he's a great man, but like anyone else he's got some faults - some real faults - and it seems to be almost sacriligious to criticise him. This is not to say that I wasn't moved to tears when he was released etc. etc. like anyone else. But I would really hate a biopic to be made while he's still alive.
Thanks, Sal - fixed the spelling. Mr Gregory's recollections, apparently, have been queried by Mandela himself. I agree apartheid is both a black and white story. This film, though, really doesn't explore either in any meaningful sense.
The entire premise seems spurious to me.
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Goodbye Bafana
