Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom Page #6

Synopsis: Nelson Mandela is a South African lawyer who joins the African National Congress in the 1940s when the law under the Apartheid system's brutal tyranny proves useless for his people. Forced to abandon peaceful protest for armed resistance after the Sharpeville Massacre, Mandela pays the price when he and his comrades are sentenced to life imprisonment for treason while his wife, Winnie, is abused by the authorities herself. Over the decades in chains, Mandela's spirit is unbowed as his struggle goes on in and beyond his captivity to become an international cause. However, as Winnie's determination hardens over the years into a violent ruthlessness, Nelson's own stature rises until he becomes the renowned leader of his movement. That status would be put to the test as his release nears and a way must be found to win a peaceful victory that will leave his country, and all its peoples, unstained.
Director(s): Justin Chadwick
Production: The Weinstein Co.
  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 12 wins & 29 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.1
Metacritic:
60
Rotten Tomatoes:
61%
PG-13
Year:
2013
141 min
$4,733,032
Website
3,389 Views


We've briefed the president.

He's a pragmatist;

he heard us.

The government agrees to lift the ban

on the ANC and repeal the race laws.

You undertake to renounce violence.

No.

- But you said...

- I said nothing.

I listened.

But you will withdraw your

demand for majority rule?

No.

Then what are you giving us

in exchange for what we give you?

Nothing.

These meetings have been

a complete waste of all our time.

Well, I wouldn't say

that I've wasted my time.

The president has made up his mind.

It can't be stopped now.

The president is a member

of the Gereformeerde Kerk,

very Calvinist.

He believes God calls him to do

a special task in a special time.

After the inauguration service...

he wept... and said

that God was calling him

to save the people of South Africa.

President de Klerk.

- It's this way.

- Hang on, shoelace.

- Thank you.

- Yeah.

Well, this is it.

- Mr. Mandela.

- Mr. President.

May I congratulate you

on your election?

Thank you.

You have been called

to a very special task

in a very special time.

So I believe.

- Just here?

- Yeah.

Mr. Mandela, I have taken

the decision to release you.

Unconditionally.

A car will be ready at 9:00 tomorrow

morning to take you to the airport.

A plane will be waiting to fly

you directly to Johannesburg

where the official release

ceremony will take place.

Mr. De Klerk,

your people have taken

away half of my life

and returned me an old man

to a home that has

been long abandoned

and a family that have

grown up without me.

I don't want you at my side

at that moment.

I don't want to be told that you

have given me my freedom.

Just open the gate

and let me go.

Any minute now.

OK, Tata?

Hello, hello.

How are you, Auntie?

Yeah, I'm good.

I wouldn't do it without you.

You want me to hold your hand?

In case I stumble?

Somebody want me?

Don't be fooled by all

that cheering, Madiba.

- There's anger out there.

- I know that.

Winnie, Winnie.

It's just been so long.

It's better that way.

I am so tired.

I just want to sleep.

The government accepts

that change must come,

but I say to you again,

we must find a way to share power.

We must find a way to protect

the rights of the minorities.

Suddenly, the illusion of

white power is beginning to crumble.

For the first time since apartheid

began, the government here is beginning

to talk about the need for reform,

and among ordinary white people,

feelings now range

from bewilderment to anger to fear.

De Klerk will not...

You know this.

That is not going to happen.

We are not sharing power

with these whites.

As long as there are

white people in South Africa,

- that is not going to happen.

- I mean, just how?

How do we accept power

sharing with the whites?

What do we do? Do we fight?

Do we start a war?

We have a war!

What, you think this is not a war?

We have a war,

what we need now is victory.

Comrades, our people can never

accept sharing power with the whites.

People will not accept this.

What de Klerk wants is ministers

in the new government.

- Why should de Klerk get what he wants?

- De Klerk is right.

We must let them share the power.

A little power for a little while

until the fear has passed.

Madiba, I don't think our

people will accept that.

Then we must make them accept.

We are their leaders.

That is our job.

These old men

just want to talk.

The days of talking are over!

Go and get her.

I hear the voice of the people.

And that voice says,

"We will fight."

Mama,

Madiba wants to see you inside.

All right.

What?

Are you ashamed to greet me

in front of our people?

Winnie, when you speak in public,

you must represent

the policies of the ANC.

- And what does that mean?

- We are negotiating.

- We are not fighting a war.

- But the people have chosen to fight.

Do you want me to

betray our people?

- Do I betray our people?

- You have been away a long time.

What does that mean,

I've been away?

Does that mean now

you can terrorize people?

The burning, the necklacing,

that has to stop, Winnie.

You realize there's a war out there.

The people are angry.

We are all angry.

I am angry!

You are angry,

but you must show loyalty!

Loyalty, Winnie Mandela.

Loyalty.

I have decided that it would be better

if I live in my own home.

Better for the party.

Better for us.

- "Better for the party"?

- You have your own home in Diepkloof.

You have your own company there.

Am I to blame because

I don't want to be alone?

You know, so much

of my life,

I have been alone.

We have both been alone

too much, Winnie.

Why, Walter?

Tell me why, hmm?

Why, why do you show me this?

- Do you think I don't know?

- This has gone too far.

- If she was discrete about this...

- I have accepted the situation!

What business is

it of anyone else?

She humiliates you in public, Madiba.

And that hurts all of us.

Come now.

What they have done to my

wife is their only victory over me.

In view of the tensions

that have arisen

between my wife and myself

in the recent months,

we have mutually agreed

that a separation

would be best for each of us.

I shall personally never regret

the life that we tried

to share together.

I part from my wife

with no recriminations.

I embrace her with all the love

and affection.

I have nursed for her

inside and outside of prison

from the moment I first met her.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I hope that you can appreciate

the pain that I am going through.

- Thank you.

- Mr. Mandela...

Police opened fire

on gun-carrying demonstrators...

Mr. Mandela?

President de Klerk here.

The situation on the streets

is out of control.

Is this the peaceful

South Africa you say you want?

Black-on-black violence has

reached proportions of near civil war.

They began fighting as the

power struggle developed

in South Africa to replace

white rule with black.

200 Zulus

rampaged through Boipatong,

cutting down anyone they saw.

Madiba, do something.

Do something.

Do something, do something.

President de Klerk blames

the Boipatong massacre...

attacks by the Inkatha

Freedom Party supporters

on an ANC rally near Johannesburg

has left 13 people dead.

It could set back

the peace process in South Africa

by months, if not years.

violence has now put

South Africa's constitution...

de Klerk has attacked

what he calls "the ultimatum politics"

of the ANC.

Increasing financial

and diplomatic isolation...

Please sit down.

today's move on Capitol

Hill, the indications...

Mr. Mandela, you're going to be

talking into that camera.

- Yes, this one.

- A little bit more light please.

Yeah, lovely, you see?

wondering whether

it can survive the rage

that divides that nation,

black and white.

but it does not derail

talks toward ending white rule.

South African president,

FW de Klerk...

Panic, chaos, confusion...

...white minority's worst nightmare.

...crisis for this country...

5 seconds, 4,

3, 2...

Someone gave me this note...

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William Nicholson

William Benedict Nicholson, OBE, FRSL is a British screenwriter, playwright, and novelist who has been nominated twice for an Oscar. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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