Nine award-winning movies based on Nelson Mandela's life

Compiled by Brenda Odhiambo(@OdhiamboAkinyi)

Nelson Mandela has been one of the world’s most iconic and inspiring leaders, owing to his efforts in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. His efforts in the struggle have formed the basis of many a Hollywood movie, a testament to Mandela‘s enduring legacy.

Here are some of the movies that have been based on the icon’s life:

Endgame

Clarke Peters portrayed Mandela in this 2009 telefilm, which dramatized the final days of apartheid in South Africa and the covert discussions leading up to it. William Hurt, Chiwetel Ejiofor(Solomon Northrup in 12 Years a slave), Jonny Lee Miller and Mark Strong star in the movie, based on Robert Harvey's book The Fall of Apartheid. Endgame was nominated for an Emmy for best made-for-TV movie, while Ejiofor earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance.

Mandela

HBO's 1987 telefilm starred Danny Glover as Mandela and Alfre Woodard as his wife, Winnie. "I clawed and scratched to do Mandela," Glover once said of the role. "I was reading Mandela when I was 20 years old and making it part of my own conscience." He earned an Emmy nomination for his performance.

Invictus

Clint Eastwood's 2009 movie documented the events in South Africa before and during the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which was hosted in the African country not long after the end of apartheid. Morgan Freeman played then-South African president Mandela, while Matt Damon portrayed Francois Pienaar, captain of South Africa's rugby team. Both actors earned Oscar nominations for their roles.

Mandela and De Klerk

The 1997 TV movie starred Sidney Poitier as Mandela and Michael Caine as former South African President F.W. De Klerk, who, in 1990, engineered the end of apartheid and announced the release of Mandela, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment. Caine and Poitier both received Emmy nominations for their work on the telefilm.

Winnie Mandela

The upcoming adaptation of Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob's biography, Winnie Mandela: A Life, stars Jennifer Hudson as Winnie Mandela, the activist wife of Nelson Mandela (Terrence Howard). The movie shows how she fought for her husband's freedom and for the freedom of her people during the apartheid era and depicts "her struggle to keep the Mandela dream alive amidst her husband’s life imprisonment, her own time in solitary confinement and her battle to overcome controversies that followed her through the years," according to the official description. In real life, the couple divorced in 1996.

Goodbye Bafana

The 2007 movie Goodbye Bafana (aka The Color of Freedom) centered on the relationship between Mandela (portrayed by Dennis Haysbert) and James Gregory (Joseph Fiennes), his prison guard. The movie was based on Gregory's book Goodbye Bafana: Nelson Mandela, My Prisoner, and My Friend. Diane Kruger co-starred.

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

The upcoming biopic, based on Mandela's 1994 book Long Walk to Freedom, traces the freedom fighter's journey from childhood to his election as president of South Africa. "It explores the Mandela unknown to most of the world -- the lover of fast cars and women, the boxing enthusiast and playboy, the skillful lawyer and the gun-toting freedom fighter," according to an official description of the film, which stars Idris Elba and Naomie Harris.

Catch a Fire

Derek Luke starred as the real-life Patrick Chamusso, who was accused of carrying out an attack against the government that was being investigated by an Afrikaner police officer named Nik Vos (Tim Robbins). His wife and family were tortured and abused before Patrick was deemed innocent, but he later joined the guerrilla military as an act of revenge against the government.

Cry Freedom

The 1987 film, which was set in the late 1970s during apartheid, is based on the real-life events surrounding journalist Donald Woods (Kevin Kline) and black activist Steve Biko (Denzel Washington). After Biko dies under suspicious circumstances while in police custody, Woods works to expose the government's role in his death. The movie earned three Oscar nominations, including best supporting actor for Washington.

In My Country

The 2004 film starred Samuel L. Jackson as a Washington Post reporter sent to South Africa to cover the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, in which victims of human rights violations were invited to talk about their experiences. The movie was screened for Mandela, who called it "a beautiful and important film about South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It will engage and influence not only South Africans, but people all over the world concerned with the great questions of human reconciliation, forgiveness and tolerance." Juliette Binoche also starred.

Source: The Hollywood Review