Nelson Mandela
Tonight I saw MANDELA: Long Walk To Freedom. It’s a wonderful movie, complex on many levels. It’s a story of faith, fortitude, loyalty, commitment, frustration, love, anger, destruction. It’s about power struggles, freedom, equality, politics, morality, loneliness, disappointment, ideology, apartheid, peace, war, fear and loathing.
The scenes shot in South Africa were breathtakingly beautiful and having been there myself I appreciated the landscape all the more. The fine British actor Idris Elba embodies the character or Nelson Mandela, he walks like Mandela and he talks like Mandela. He is the central figure, central to the point of reducing the other actors to near oblivion, with the exception of Naomi Harris’ portrayal of Winnie, Nelson’s second wife. She is a strong figure throughout the movie.
This blog is not like other From My Point of View posts in that I’m not offering my opinion on much of the movie or its style. This blog post is for me, I need to confess, to apologize; While watching the movie unfold in chronological order, I was amazed and appalled at my lack of awareness at what was happening on the other side of the world. I was too busy playing tennis at the Country Club, too busy watching my kids soccer games and swim meets. I was too busy focusing so much of my life and energy on becoming a success in real estate and then too busy getting a divorce. I guess I didn’t really read the newspapers or listen that carefully to the news.
I felt like an idiot and remembered the summer Thierry spent with us. Thierry was from France and a couple of years older than Joel but he seemed about 10 years older. I remembered how he spent time at the dinner table discussing world politics with my then husband. He was AWARE of the world around him; True, he and his family did some traveling as many Europeans do to neighboring countries. Their world is so encompassing and I realized tonight more than ever, just how small my world had been. I say had, because since moving to New York City I have become more worldly, more cosmopolitan, more knowledgeable and more exposed to other cultures and races.
At the end of the movie when Peter asked me how I liked it, all I could say with a lump in my throat was, “I was on an island, not Robben, and I’m so ashamed” .
Bill Ding and his band of clowns are the security patrol for this blog site. He is a favorite toy from the 50*s. By the way sometimes a blog is just an ego-maniacal stream of conscience.
Pbenjay's Blog 
Don’t you think that the majority of people, American particularly, are rather oblivious to what is transpiring in other parts of the universe? If it does not directly affect me, then it doesn’t matter. Obviously that’s a broad statement, and perhaps a negative one, but I am convinced it is so.
Yes I do think so and because our country is so big, the majority of people don’t travel extensively to other countries and what happens in those countries does not affect us.
Why would you feel quilty about something you had nothing to with then
What would you have done differently? I feel there is much to do in our own country that we should be concerned about. Plus, i loved playing tennis with you at the Country Club. We earned that right to be at that place in our lives.
Hugs, lynne
Lynne, No I don’t feel guilty about not doing something because as you say, what could I do? I feel bad that I was so unaware of the world (other than the Vietnam war but that directly affected us). I mean how could I not know all that was going on there? Not reading the newspapers I guess. It’s pretty mind-boggling that a man could be in prison for 20+ years and end up president of his country and he was the moving force that stopped the crime, killing and apartheid. NEVER would I ever give up our tennis days my dear!!! Not the L and L team!!