Watching Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom led me to check this one out, whose existence I've been ignoring for a few years now. Sadly, I have to say I didn't miss much... it's about as dull as they come, and none of the elements are worthy of celebration (cinematography, direction, acting, script, ...). The concept of exploring the life of an icon through someone else's eyes is something I appreciated about Cry Freedom, but then it helped if that someone else is actually interesting (a heroic journalist). It's not the case here (a sympathetic prison guard). As for the icon in question (Nelson Mandela), it doesn't look like much effort was expended really. Not even an attempt to make him look older, beyond some white shit on the actor's hair. WTF!
There was also not much effort on the part of the two actors to speak Xhosa (a major language in South Africa) in a half-convincing manner. Most of the world won't notice of course, but it still does matter... it's embarrassing if you have any passing familiarity of the language. Lazy!