Goodbye Bafana

Goodbye Bafana is a drama based on the relationship between James Gregory, a white South African prison guard, and Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader he watched over for roughly two decades. Gregory, who grew up among Xhosa speakers and understood the language, was first expected to monitor Mandela and other prisoners without their knowledge. Over the years of Mandela's imprisonment, from Robben Island onward, the guard's attitudes shifted as he came to know the man in his charge. The film draws on the book Gregory wrote with Bob Graham.

Bille August directed the film, the sixth of the fifteen features he has made in chronological order, following Return to Sender and preceding To Each His Own Cinema. Greg Latter wrote the screenplay, and the producers were Andro Steinborn, Ilann Girard and Jean-Luc Van Damme. Joseph Fiennes plays Gregory, Dennis Haysbert plays Mandela, and Diane Kruger appears as Gregory's wife, Gloria, with Patrick Lyster and Norman Anstey among the credited cast of fifty. The production, a Belgian, British and South African co-production made for about 30 million dollars, was released in February 2007 and runs 115 minutes.

Audience response has been moderately positive: on IMDb the film holds 7.1 out of 10 from around 12,000 votes, and on TMDB it has 6.9 out of 10 from 165 votes. A critics' rating of 5.3 out of 10 from 17 reviews places professional assessment below the viewer scores.