Wednesday Minute
No. 154 | September 8, 2010

Once Is Enough

Our theme this week
Actors who have directed one film only

Featured this week (theme introduction)
Monday         —  Marlon Brando:  One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
Tuesday         —  Gary Oldman:  Nil by Mouth (1997)

Morgan Freeman:  Bopha! (1993)

 

Morgan Freeman has appeared in a couple of films set in South Africa:  in 1992, as a prisoner/boxing tutor in The Power of One, and as Nelson Mandela in last year’s Invictus.  For Bopha!, he let others do the acting as he stepped into the director’s role for the only time in his career.

Danny Glover stars as Micah Mangena, a black police sergeant during the apartheid era.  He has found a niche, done well, and is proud of his accomplishments.  But the situation of a black man upholding the white man’s law is not a simple one, and history—not to mention, Micah’s own son—is not on his side.  Zweli, the son (Maynard Eziashi), does not want to follow his father’s footsteps; he is active politically, protesting at first the teaching of Afrikaans at his school (English is preferred, representing freedom), and ultimately, apartheid.  Micah wants just to do his job, but as the situation escalates he is faced with the difficult decision—which side to take.  The protests have become violent but the law of apartheid is cruel and inhuman.   It’s a test of his conscience, and the fate of his family, his job, and his people are on the line.

Bopha! did not make a big impact at the time (well-meaning films often don’t do well at the box office).  The film, however, did earn critical acclaim, with the cast, led by Glover and Alfre Woodard, receiving good notices.  It’s one of a handful of movies that provide insight into life of South Africans during the time of apartheid—and this one, importantly, is told through the eyes of a black man and his family.

Morgan Freeman has not directed another movie to date, but for what it’s worth, he and yesterday‘s featured actor-director, Gary Oldman, have both found recurring roles as good guys in the latest incarnation of Batman movies, Christopher Nolan edition (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight). 

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Bopha! (1993)
Morgan Freeman, director
Percy Mtwa (play), Brian Bird, John Wierick (screenplay), writers
Trailer

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Quote of note
“If we allow defiance today…tomorrow it becomes violence.”
—Devilliers (Malcolm McDowell), Bopha! (1993)

…58…59…60.