South Africa: On Film and Paper

             Last night (okay, technically it was early this morning) I watched the movie The Color of Freedom.  The history of South Africa has interested me since I was in high school...

              In case you have missed it, the movie is about the real-life relationship that formed between Nelson Mandela and a prison guard.  It stars Joseph Fiennes, Dennis Haysbert and Diane Kruger.  I won't claim it is one of my favorites, but it kept me interested until the end.  (I found it at the library; you can't beat their prices on DVD "rentals.")

         However, one of my favorite books IS Too Late the Phalarope by Alan Paton. It is a tale of South Africa and apartheid, focusing on a devastating "tragedy" brought on by a tiny sea shell. Intrigued?  Find the book and read it.

(Paton also wrote the more well-known novel Cry the Beloved Country.  I adore this book too,  but while Phalarope is a story told with a small aperature, this story is told with the shutter wide open.)