Goodbye Bafana

May 11 2007 By The Journal

Goodbye Bafana relives Nelson Mandela's 27 years behind bars through the eyes of white Afrikaner James Gregory, the prison guard whose memoirs of the same name reveal an intense bond between these two men from opposite ends of the political and social spectrum.

Having grown up under the brutal apartheid regime on a farm in the Transkei, Gregory (Fiennes) looks down on blacks, despite a tender, lasting friendship in his youth with a boy called Bafana.

With his knowledge of the Xhosa language, he is the perfect candidate to guard and spy on Mandela (Haysbert) and his ANC comrades at the prison on Robben Island. At first, Gregory treats the inmates with suspicion but he is gradually moved by Mandela's dignified air and his wise words. So much so, he passes a note between Mandela and his visiting wife, Winnie.

Then Gregory is entreated to deliver devastating news to Mandela: his son Madiba Thembekile has been killed in a car crash. The growing bond between the two does not go unnoticed and the locals turn against Gregory.

His hairdresser wife Gloria (Kruger) pleads for him to consider changing jobs, but her husband is unrepentant. "I don't want to say I stood on the sidelines," he tells her. "This could be history in the making, and I want to be part of it."

Verdict: Goodbye Bafana fails to elicit powerhouse performances from either of its two leads.

Fiennes grapples with a passable accent but his portrayal of a father wrestling with man's inhumanity to fellow man fails to hit any emotional notes.

While Haysbert brings a tranquillity and nobility to his impersonation of the elder statesman, he remains an enigma consigned to the background.

Director Bille August brings the necessary air of solemnity to proceedings but for all its worthiness and historical interest, his film sheds almost no light on these two fascinating protagonists.