The time has come to ealuate the political, moraland spiritual legacy of a 20th century hero, Nel-son Mandela, a leader who saed his country from a loody ciil war y allowing
te spirit of reconcili-ation
to preail. This will e our documentary’s fo-cus as it explores the real life stories of people who rought aout the creation of the Rainow Nation. At the core of our exploration is an in depth ehind-the-scenes look at Clint Eastwood’s current pro-duction,
“Invictus”
project. Inspired y John Car-lin’s ook,
Playing the Enemy
, Eastw’s m
centers around the year 1995, when president Man-dela (interpreted y Morgan Freeman) must pre-pare South Africa to welcome the Rugy World Cup. The encounter of the Mandela story y Clint Eastwoodis itself an unusual eent. It marks the conergenceof two men who hae reached a pinnacle in their re-spectie realms. After forty years of struggle againstoppression, Mandela has come to emody the aluesof dialogue and reconciliation. As for Eastwood, thelast of the Hollywood maericks, he hasn’t ceased,
m after cassica m, t sty the effects f vience
and injustice on oth its ictims and its perpetrators.
Our docuentary will weave toeter tesetreads into a unique tapestry tat uniteste diverse personalities wo ave foredaainst all odds Sout Africa’s reconciliation.
One key lesson that Mandela’s journey illuminates isthat rute force cannot e effectie in the long term.No matter how unjust a goernment may e, sooneror later the human spirit reels. And when it preails,it astounds the world with its
ananiity.
Oer-coming the hatred he may hae felt for implacale en-emies, Mandela made them his partners in the peaceprocess.He understood that the oppressor must e lier-ated, just as much as the oppressed, as oth hae een roed of their humanity. At the time Mandela was ale, miraculously, to defuse the threat of a ciil war fomented y hard-core champions of apartheid.
The Rgby Wr Cp, in the na match when the
Springoks eat New Zealand’s All-blacks, played amajor part in his strategy. That triumph marked astunning moment of national fusion as it rought to-gether South Africans of all races and creeds. To place
these ening events f the new Sth Africa in their
proper context, we will call upon witnesses - from allcommunities - to proide insights, anecdotes, memo-ries, and possily dissenting iewpoints. (See Appen-
ix A fr ist f cnrme interviewees.)
The inequities of apartheid will necessarily e dweltupon, ut our images and sounds also celerate theextraordinary eauty of the land and its multiple African cultures…as well as the country’s hopes for
the ftre. If mmaker Michae Wisn’s prevism prtrait f Mr. Eastw entite
Clint East-wood: a Life in Film was a solo one-man-show, TheChallenge of Reconciliation
is a choral, plural, poly-phonic piece that gies a oice not only to a great
Hyw mmaker, bt as t a wie spectrm
of historical witnesses in the South African story.Our amition is to capture the creatie rhythms of Eastwood as he tackles a new, important experience farfrom his familiar turf, while retracing the epic’s colorful
backgrn an the inspire ives f freem ghters
such as Mandela, Desmond Tutu and their compan-ions. Structurally, this calls for an organic counter-
pint between the present f the m being mae
and the momentous historical eents it is recreating.Also part of our story, archial footage will allow usto illustrate the apartheid system, the Rionia trial,the massacres of Sharpeille and Soweto, Mandela’s
iberatin, the rst free eectin (1994) an the presi
-dential inauguration, which saw Mandela utter thesenow historical words:“Neer, neer and neer again shall it e that this eautiful land will experience the oppression of one y the other and suffer the indignity of eing theskunk of the world.”
The Challenge of Reconciliation
a f-lngh dnB mhl Hn Wln
a l l o t h e r l o g o s n d t r d e n m e s r e t h e p r o p e r t y o f t h e i r r e s p e c t i v e o w n e r s .
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