A Letter to Nelson Mandela

South African filmmaker Khalo Matabane was an idealistic teenager with great expectations of a post-apartheid era of freedom and justice when the great icon of liberation Nelson Mandela was released from prison. Euphoria gave way to disappointment in the years that followed, in which Mandela came to symbolize the “Rainbow Nation.” In an imaginary letter to Mandela, Matabane interrogates the meaning of freedom, reconciliation and forgiveness in a world of conflict and inequality. He consults politicians, world leaders, intellectuals and artists such as Henry Kissinger, Albie Sachs, Ariel Dorfman and the Dalai Lama on the matter, while also giving a voice to ordinary survivors of apartheid. In addition to the history of South Africa, the topics covered include German reunification, the war in Iraq and the assassination of Salvador Allende. The interviews are interspersed with historic images, portraits of Mandela and contemplative, sometimes out-of-focus footage of landscapes and street scenes that Matabane encounters on his travels.