Goodbye Bafana

We all know about Nelson Mandela and the 27 years he spent behind bars under an apartheid regime in South Africa. This is the story of the White prison official assigned to guard him, who came to respect, understand and bring him to the negotiating table. Based on the book by the guard James Gregory, the film casts Fiennes as him.

There is nothing that sets Gregory apart from other White South Africans, who all sincerely believe that God has intended them to stay apart from the Blacks. Everything against the Blacks is justified as they are terrorists intent on robbing them of their wealth and lives.

Gregory, who comes to live on Robben Island with wife Gloria (Kruger) and family, finds increasingly difficult to justify that logic against what he comes to experience. He also had at least one Black friend as a child called Bafana from whom he learnt both the native language and practices. All these years later, he hasn’t found it in his heart to denounce that relationship.

The film goes all out to portray the normalcy of Gregory’s everyday life, with an ambitious wife concerned about his promotion and money to meet family needs, against extraordinary times. Confronted by Mandela’s own family tragedies, Gregory is both embarrassed and sympathetic.

That’s the slight problem with Goodbye Bafana. While we understand why Gregory and Mandela come to develop a sort-of relationship, the film focusses too much on the prison guard’s personal life to give us an idea of the “how” of it. And gives us almost no idea of Mandela except as a “saint” who takes the death of even a son with a stoic forbearance.

Still, as a glimpse into history in the making, the film is a worthy watch.

shalini.langer@gmail.com