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MOVIES / ON DVD / COLOR OF FREEDOM
Color of Freedom

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Color of Freedom (2007)

44%
43%
75%
N/A
N/A
N/A
44 %
Reviews Counted: 18 Fresh: 8  Rotten:10 Average Rating: 4.7/10
Rated: 15
Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins
Theatrical Release: 11-05-2007
Synopsis:
South Africa - 1968 Twenty-five million blacks are ruled by a minority of four million whites under the brutal Apartheid regime of the Nationalist Party Government. Black people have no vote, no land rights, no rights to freedom of movement, to own a business, to housing or education.... [More]
South Africa - 1968

Twenty-five million blacks are ruled by a minority of four million whites under the brutal Apartheid regime of the Nationalist Party Government. Black people have no vote, no land rights, no rights to freedom of movement, to own a business, to housing or education. Determined to retain power, whites ban all black opposition organizations, forcing their leaders into exile or imprisoning them for life on Robben Island.

James Gregory, a typical white Afrikaner, regards blacks as sub-human. Having grown up on a farm in the Transkei, he learned to speak Xhosa at an early age. This makes him an ideal choice to become the warder in charge of Mandela and his comrades on Robben Island. After all, Gregory speaks their language and can spy on them. However, the plan backfires. Through Mandela's influence, Gregory's allegiance gradually shifts from the racist government to the struggle for a free South Africa.

Goodbye Bafana tracks the unlikely but profound relationship between these two men. Through their unique friendship, we witness not only Gregory's growing awareness of man's inhumanity to man, but South Africa's evolution from Apartheid to a vibrant democracy.

The story, which documents how Mandela became the most inspirational political figure of the modern world, poses the questions: Who is the prisoner? And who sets whom free? --© Paramount Classics [Less]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Joseph Fiennes, Diane Kruger, Dennis Haysbert, Shiloh Henderson, Tyron Keogh

Director: Bille August
Screenwriter: Greg Latter, Bille August
Producer: Jean-Luc Van Damme, Ilann Girard, Andro Steinborn
Composer: Dario Marianelli

DVD Info

Release:

Aug 5, 2009

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen - 2.35

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
  • Subtitles - English, Spanish - Optional

Additional Release Material:

  • Bonus Shorts - "Remembering Mandela" - Peter Davis - Director
  • Best Documentary, 1974)
  • Trailers - Theatrical Trailer

Reviews

 
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1 - 18 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image

n engaging, inspirational and ultimately uplifting drama with superb performances from its two leads.

Full Review | Comment
06/09/07 05:01 AM
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
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Sincere as it patently is, and perfectly competently made, Goodbye Bafana progresses through the last years of the apartheid regime at a snail's pace.

Full Review | Comment
05/11/07 07:41 AM
Derek Malcolm
This is London
Ratings Image

The script is lumpen and prosaic, the performances so-so, and the passage of the years deeply unconvincing.

Full Review | Comment
05/11/07 07:28 AM
Independent
Ratings Image

Dull.

Full Review | Comment
05/11/07 07:08 AM
Johnny Vaughan
Sun Online
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Occasionally moving but mostly dry.

Full Review | Comment
05/11/07 06:52 AM
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]
Ratings Image

Goodbye Bafana should keep you locked in for most of its generous running time.

Full Review | Comment
05/11/07 06:03 AM
Neil Smith
Total Film
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This is just painfully worthy TV-movie stuff.

Full Review | Comment
05/11/07 05:16 AM
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
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A rose-tinted homage. But affecting too.

Full Review | Comment
05/11/07 05:06 AM
James Christopher
Times [UK]
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A strong performance from Fiennes and excellent period detail can't energise a sluggish biographical drama.

Full Review | Comment
05/11/07 04:05 AM
Neil Smith
Channel 4 Film
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Ratings Image

Interesting story and OK performances but this takes a little time to warm up.

Full Review | Comment
05/11/07 03:09 AM
Kim Newman
Empire Magazine
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Full marks to director Bille August for achieving the near-impossible: crafting a film about Nelson Mandela that threatens to send you to sleep and reduces the great man himself to mere background noise.

Full Review | Comment
05/10/07 03:15 AM
Dave Calhoun
Time Out
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It's a portrait of political activism that makes John and Yoko's bed-in look lively.

Full Review | Comment
04/17/07 03:15 AM
Stella Papamichael
BBC
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Forceful and timely stuff.

Full Review | Comment
04/14/07 04:34 AM
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image

Director August once had a knack for telling stories of adolescent bonds, and he makes good use of one childhood flashback and a scene in which Bafana and Mandela blend into one person. For a moment, he achieves a balance the rest of the film lacks.

Full Review | Comment
12/14/07 02:55 PM
John Hartl
Seattle Times
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The film is most interesting when showing the ignorance of the Afrikaners. The film falters when trying to address the complexities of the political issues.

Full Review | Comment
12/13/07 04:44 PM
Bill White
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Another well-meaning, dopily prosaic movie of the sort that often gets a mercy nomination thrown its way ... Does a severe disservice to a truly great history.

Full Review | Comment
12/12/07 05:09 PM
Andrew Wright
The Stranger (Seattle, WA)
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Opportunities to emotionally bond with happenings onscreen are far and few between.

Full Review | Comment
04/14/07 04:34 AM
Russell Edwards
Variety
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Europudding in chocolate sauce.

Full Review | Comment
04/11/07 03:50 PM
Boyd van Hoeij
european-films.net
1 - 18 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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