The global effort to end South African apartheid was complicated, fitful and only partly the work of Nelson Mandela.
Those of us who know this chapter of modern history mostly through the prism of news coverage of Mandela will find a broader, much more detailed study in the five-part documentary, “Have You Heard From Johannesburg,” aring on PBS’ “Independent Lens” on three Thursdays beginning this week.
The first two parts of “Have You Heard From Johannesburg” will be broadcast from10-midnight Thursday on Rocky Mountain PBS.
The film, from producer-writer-director Connie Field, surveys the work of exiled ANC Deputy President Oliver Tambo, the eventual success of economic sanctions against a cruel regime, the victory of anti-apartheid forces over the opposition of U.S. President Ronald Reagan, and the spread of an international grassroots campaign to bring down the apartheid government. Mandela’s contributions, along with those of Bishop Desmond Tuto and others, are put in context.
Field makes clear her feeling that the demise of apartheid was one of the greatest human achievements of the 20th century. Amazing archival film footage attests to that fact.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
