Analyse af 'Long Walk to Freedom'

Long Walk to Freedom begins very movingly with Mandela describing in voice-over a recurring dream he has of his happy childhood home.

Mandela can not accept that he is living in a country that oppresses his black population, and he is therefore involved in the ANC justice organization, where he quickly becomes the front figure. As a peaceful demonstration develops into a pure massacre, Mandela and the other ANC brothers go to more violent solutions.

The fight against apartheid escalated when police shot dead 69 black people in the Sharpeville Massacre of 21 March 1960. The ANC was banned and Mandela went underground. Peaceful resistance was replaced with economic sabotage. Mandela became national vice-president of the ANC.

In 1962 Mandela was arrested for leaving the country illegally. He conducted his own defence, but was convicted in November and jailed for five years with hard labour. While he was in prison the police raided an ANC safe house in Rivonia where they discovered a cache of arms. Mandela and the other leaders of the ANC were charged with treason. In 1964 the court found them guilty and Mandela and other leaders were sentenced to life in prison.

In 1990, while South Africa was under global economic and political pressure to reform its policies, President FW de Klerk announced that Nelson Mandela was to be released and the ban on the ANC lifted.