Goodbye Bafana (2007)

Directed by

Bille August

Genre

drama film, prison film, biographical film, historical film

Country

South Africa, Germany, United Kingdom, France

Runtime

2h 20m

Rated

R

Rating

6.9 of 10 from 161 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This film follows James Gregory, a prison guard assigned to watch Nelson Mandela. Over the years, Gregory's views on race and justice shift as he gets to know Mandela. It also shows how this changes Gregory's relationship with his wife.

introspectivequietly intensebittersweetemotionally complexslow-burnreflectiveearnestgrounded

What happens

Goodbye Bafana, or The Color of Freedom (US), is a 2007 drama film, directed by Bille August, about the relationship between Nelson Mandela (Dennis Haysbert) and James Gregory (Joseph Fiennes), his censor officer and prison guard, based on Gregory's book Goodbye Bafana: Nelson Mandela, My Prisoner, My Friend. The film also explores the relationship of James Gregory and his wife as their life changes while Mandela is under Gregory's watch. Bafana means 'boys'. Gregory lived on a farm and had a black friend when he was a child, which explains his ability to speak Xhosa. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013)
• Catch a Fire (2006)
• Le cercle des noyés (2007)
• Black August (2007)
• Invictus (2009)
• Mandela's Gun (2015)
• The Forgiven (2017)
• Hôtel des longues peines (2007)