#FreedomDay: 7 South African struggle movies to binge on

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These South African struggle stories that will stand the test of time. Sarafina Sarafina (Leleti Khumalo) is a young black South African struggling for freedom during the apartheid. While she has remained relatively silent in her opposition of the racist government in her country, the movement to make the language of Afrikaans the official language in her school leads her to protest in the streets with her fellow students. Her anti-government views become even more intense when her favorite teacher (Whoopi Goldberg) is arrested for protesting. Invictus

Following the fall of apartheid, newly elected President Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) faces a South Africa that is racially and economically divided. Believing he can unite his countrymen through the universal language of sport, Mandela joins forces with Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), captain of the rugby team, to rally South Africans behind a bid for the 1995 World Cup Championship.

Cry the Beloved Country

Reverend Stephen Kumalo (James Earl Jones) is a back-country Zulu preacher in South Africa. When his son (Eric Miyeni) is accused of robbery and murder, Kumalo journeys to Johannesburg, where he is helped by a local priest (Vusi Kunene). He eventually meets James Jarvis (Richard Harris), the father of the murder victim, who is a prominent white supremacist. However, they discover common ground, and their mutual respect becomes a symbol of apartheid's eventual demise.

A Long Walk to Freedom

The remarkable life of South African revolutionary, president and world icon Nelson Mandela (Idris Elba) takes center stage. Though he had humble beginnings as a herd boy in a rural village, Mandela became involved in the anti-apartheid movement and co-founded the African National Congress Youth League. His activities eventually led to his imprisonment on Robben Island from 1964 to 1990. In 1994, Mandela became the first president of democratic South Africa.

Winnie Mandela

Winnie Mandela is a 2011 drama film adaptation of Anne Marie du Preez Bezrob's biography Winnie Mandela: A Life. The film is directed by Darrell Roodt, and stars Jennifer Hudson, Terrence Howard, Wendy Crewson, Elias Koteas, and Justin Strydom.

The Bang Bang Club

Photojournalists (Ryan Phillippe, Taylor Kitsch, Frank Rautenbach) put themselves in harm's way as they shoot evidence of atrocities committed in the final days of South African apartheid.

Mandela and De Klerk

On June 12, 1964, political activist Nelson Mandela (Sidney Poitier) is sentenced to life in prison for treason against the South African state. During the years of his incarceration at Robben Island, Mandela rises to become the symbolic leader of black South Africa. Meanwhile, Mandela's one-time ideological foil, South Africa's white president, F.W. de Klerk (Michael Caine), puts into place reforms that bring an end to his country's decades-old policy of racial segregation: apartheid.



