Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Originally I intended to write a post explaining a whole lot of stuff that’s happened since my first blog. But eh ‘intensions?’ Gone.

Unless you have been living under a rock, south of Timbuktu, you would have heard that the great Nelson “Madiba” Mandela has passed. His presence on this earth REMAINS so poignant, not because he was big in stature or shrouded in fame, but because of what he, one human being was able to achieve.

Eerily Mandela’s name has been on my lips a great deal for the past week, since my mum and I were invited to watch the pre-screening of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, starring Idris Elba as Mandela and Naomie Harris as his wife, Winnie. So you can imagine my complete and utter shock when three days later, we saw news reports that Madiba, this amazing human being who’s story had transfixed us on the big screen, took his last breath. The same night of Mandela’s UK film premiere no less, the timing was surreal.

Though I doubt this biopic needs my recommendation to fill cinema seats, I would encourage everyone to watch it. Having never read Mandela’s autobiography, I still knew enough about his life to expect great things on the visual screen and I was not disappointed. Did Idris Elba look anything like Madiba? No. But then neither did Morgan Freeman resemble the red headed Caucasian character he played in Shawshank Redemption. Talent speaks for itself and the story was far too riveting that I forgot who was playing whom and watched history unfold from my seat.

I don’t want to waste your time giving a film review, because to me it was more than JUST a film. I felt like in those 139 minutes I delved into a moment in history I was too young to remember and yet I felt them, as if they were only just taking place. I watched this film with a heavy heart and it was heart breaking and it was inspiring and it was conflicting. But above all it was a story of resilience. The resilience of a nation, and the resilience of a man and his brothers, the brother’s Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island with… Ahmed Kathrada, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Andrew Mlangeni, Elias Motsoaledi, Raymond Mhlaba. Not withstanding Denis Goldberg who wasn’t mentioned, but spent 22 years within a white prison. Let us not forget the sacrifices each of these men made as well.

For me, Mandela was a 21^st century Moses. Like my biblical hero, Mandela fought for the liberty of his people, and overcame no small feet in bringing the end of an oppressive tyranny for the natives of South Africa.

Mandela’s ability to forgive is undoubtedly what makes him so great and to this day sets him apart as a leader amongst men. Mandela was more than just head of the African National Congress, he became a role model when he chose to live his life without malice against a supremacist government that abused, imprisoned, and tried to oppress him. He did not ask people to do what he could not do himself "...until I changed myself, I could not change others." He spoke forgiveness and tolerance but first demonstrated it; even from within prison he befriended officers that ensured his captivity. This man was GREAT and that’s not a term I use lightly.

“No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Like many, I hoped to on day meet the revolutionary Nelson Mandela in person. But even without that opportunity I felt moved by him. I have seen the effect he has had on South Africa, on the world and I guess, ultimately you meet an aspect of that person by their works, their actions and the legacy they leave behind. Forever an inspiration. Never to be forgotten. Madiba 1918-2013