Nelson Mandela’s visionary struggle

Press, 22 September 1987, Page 11

Nelson Mandela’s visionary struggle

A quarter of a century ago, in the bloody aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was arrested, tried and sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa. Though still in jail, his visionary struggle has since grown to a worldwide crescendo of protest.

Now T.V.S. present the first screen dramatisation of the lives of Nelson and Winnie Mandela, played by Danny Glover and Alfre Woodard.

A film of many dimensions, “Mandela” (tonight at 9.05 p.m. on One) is a love story, one of enduring strength drawn from the astonishing bond between two people, both imprisoned for their beliefs.

It is one of a yearning for justice and freedom not only of black South Africans but of all peoples fighting injustice worldwide.

And with poignant reminders of the razing of shanty towns, of Sharpeville, of the slaughter of children and students 16 years later in Soweto, it is a film of the horrors of State violence and personal tragedy engendered

by such yearning. "Mandela” — a $4.5 million production — was filmed over five weeks in Harare, Zimbabwe. Its

producer, Dick Bamber, hopes It will do more for the anti-apartheid cause than any other television production.