Easily one of the most inspiring stories in recent memory, the triumph of democracy over apartheid in South Africa began with the release of longtime political detainee Nelson Mandela and culminated in his glorious rise to the presidency in the country’s first free and fair elections in 1994.
While there are several feature films and documentaries that offered a glimpse of what the apartheid system of racial segregation was like in South Africa as well as examples of how President Mandela initiated certain reforms under his watch, there has not been a documentary that has thoughtfully opted for a more in-depth approach in depicting the struggle of a nation against formidable odds.
Until now.
“Miracle Rising: South Africa” is a new two-hour special documentary on the History Channel that retells the story through simple, intimate portraits of local and international key players determined to change the country for the best of all who live there.
Moving beyond mere chronology, the story climaxes with the thrilling behind-the-scenes events of the elections that resulted in the joyful inauguration of President Mandela.
“It is such a powerful and amazing story of transformation and forgiveness that I think it really spoke to something deep in the hearts of all of us really, about the power to forgive and to go through that true reconciliation process that South Africa did. So it’s a kind of inspiration to all of us, I believe,” Adam MacDonald, VP of programming at A+E Networks UK recently told InterAksyon in an exclusive interview.
In distinguishing “Miracle Rising: South Africa” from previous documentaries that covered the same subjects, MacDonald said the producers shot new footage and conducted interviews with around 40 people from all over the world who were involved in the struggle against apartheid.
These include such influential figures as Desmond Tutu, Albie Sachs, F.W. De Klerk, Jeremy Thompson, Richard Branson, Christiane Amanpour and former US president Bill Clinton.
In addition, there are also interviews with cause-oriented celebrities like Whoopi Goldberg, U2’s Bono and Charlize Theron, a native of South Africa herself.
“So what we have here are experiences, anecdotes and observations from journalists around the world, journalists in South Africa, politicians from around the world and in South Africa, and global celebrities and icons in the global movement against apartheid,” MacDonald continued.
The broadcast executive also revealed that they also shot “specially recreated scenes”.
“But the most powerful thing for us really is the story we’re telling, the interviews and the access we got. So we’re really kind of delving deep into the process of reconciliation,” he stressed.
Yes, reconciliation. Quite possibly the hardest thing to achieve for every divided nation, the makers of “Miracle Rising: South Africa” wanted to show that with the Mandela example, it can be achieved.
“The documentary is full of stories and anecdotes of kind of the power and the magnetism of Nelson Mandela, and indeed of many of the other people around him and involved in South Africa at the time, that all of them contributed to that move towards peace,” MacDonald noted.
Among the many wonderful stories about Mandela that was covered in the documentary was his incarceration in Robben Island, his determination to learn the African language, part of his time as president and even the triumphant moment when the country won its first Rugby World Cup that was the basis for Clint Eastwood’s acclaimed film “Invictus”.
“The structure of our documentary is that while it kind of focuses on that period from 1990-1994, there are periods and things which allow us to explode out and tell stories before and after. So we tell the story of Mandela in Robben island, and also we tell the story in part about what he did when he became president. We also touched on the Rugby World Cup which is a critical moment in the transformation of people’s hearts and minds in South Africa,” Macdonald further revealed.
Unfortunately, Mandela was too ill to be interviewed for the documentary, which MacDonald said was shot where it all happened two and years ago. As for the title “Miracle Rising”, that is a story in itself.
“The program makers were pretty passionate about that title, and the question the documentary poses to all the people we interviewed was, ‘Do you consider this a miracle?’, because in many respects, it does seem miraculous how the country avoided civil war and the two kind of warring parties reached peace together, and there’s democracy in the country now,” he pointed out.
“Interestingly most of the people we interviewed of course said it wasn’t a miracle — it took hard work, it took dedication, huge kind of efforts in the negotiations and the pragmatic nature of it. But nevertheless, there’s something at the heart of it which was quite miraculous. And we’ve put the title in the present tense, ‘Miracle Rising’, because it feels like a present tense story of how this miracle is rising right in front of your eyes.”
“Miracle Rising: South Africa” premiered last February 12 on History and History HD Channel. Its remaining broadcasts are scheduled on February 24, Sunday at 8PM, February 25, Monday at 1AM and March 1, Friday at 10PM.
source: interaksyon
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