Film Review of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

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

I really liked this movie because it made me feel so many emotions while I was watching it. On several occasions I felt like crying from impotence, like when they showed shootings towards innocent people or children. But many times I felt a lot of pride, especially when all the discriminated ones united to fight the white supremacy.
Something that I don't like, but the not only about the film, is the same about what this theme revolves, the superiority (given by themselves) of the whites. How they discriminated and looked at people at least simply because of the color of their skin.
I also liked the use of archive material to show the reality, how it was and the consequences of the wars.
Moreover, they showed me more the life of Winnie, of which I didn't have much knowledge.

2. In your own words, how would you compare the "various Mandelas;" the ones from the article and the one from the film?

In the article written by Benjamin Fogel,  Mandela is divided into two: the revolutionary and the most peaceful one. I would say that the film shows a mixture of both; it shows the first one since Mandela was walking on the street and instead of going home with his wife of that time, he decides to stay in the street and protest for their rights. And the other appears when he had already spent several years in jail, and instead of acting with force, he acted with the power of speech and invited people to go vote to end white supremacy.

3. What was the role that Winnie Mandela played in the film? Think about the contrast between her and the other ANC members.

Before watching this movie I knew very little of Winnie or just nothing, I wasn't aware of everything she did for her people. Winnie had a fundamental role in the revolution, at first supporting her husband, but everything had more impact when he was in prison. She became the main leader of the movement. She endured abuses, extortion, and literally beatings to defend what she believed was right. Despite having this important role, she differed from the rest of the ANC members, especially at the end of the film, when Mandela left prison, there were differences between them and what they thought was the best for the continuation of the movement.

4. How do you compare the role of Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress in the struggle against the apartheid and in the post-apartheid South Africa to the Concertación and their role in the struggle against Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship and in post-dictatorial Chile?

Both peoples, Chile and Africa, have had a history of struggle over a greatest power that's in command. Human rights are the main affected in all this, innocent people murdered only by order of a superior. However, both managed to overcome these abuses thanks to the battle of the people and the vote that this exercised in order to overthrow the evil power that existed in command. Life after taking out that power was quite different; human rights were the ones that took the main importance so that people could have a better peaceful life and with peace (even if that hasn't been achieved at all even to this day).