Beyond Mandela: comrades take spotlight in Cannes documentary
Cannes, France — Half a century after the historic trial at which Nelson Mandela escaped the gallows, one of his fellow prisoners will walk Cannes’ red carpet on Monday for the premiere of a documentary about those who stood with him in the dock. Andrew Mlangeni is one of the last two surviving defendants of the 1963-1964 Rivonia trial of Mandela and nine others who faced a death sentence on charges of plotting guerrilla warfare and carrying out acts of sabotage against South Africa’s apartheid regime. Mandela’s impassioned three-hour address to the court, during which he declared that a democratic South Africa was an ideal "for which I am prepared to die" was the most significant of his career, conferring on him a demi-god status that overshadowed the sacrifices of his co-accused. The State Against Mandela and the Others, a French-produced documentary based on the recently released audio recordings of the proceedings, attempts to redress the balance by giving centre stage to his fe...
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