Wardrobe extras co-ordinator: ‘Madiba’ Starring Laurence Fishburne

"Madiba" Miniseries

‘Madiba’ Starring Laurence Fishburne. Director: Kevin Hooks

I worked on the Madiba Miniseries starring Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix), Orlando Jones (Time Machine) and David Harewood (Blood Diamond). Throughout the narrative, we follow Nelson Mandela's rise to become leader of the African National Congress, his imprisonment, and his eventual release as he triumphs over the system that oppressed him. I had the incredible opportunity to experience the events as we were shooting the scenes in the actual locations where all this took place. We filmed the scenes in the actual locations where all this happened so I was able to experience the simulation of the events firsthand. The jail courtiers at Constitutional Hill in Johannesburg proved to be the most challenging. Their torture in those conditions was atrocious. In the same location where all this occurred, I felt the weight of the heartache Steven Biko and the Rivonia 12 must have experienced. It's the worst place I have ever shot. You could feel the pain and heartaches they must have gone through as there was a heaviness in the air. The Miniseries transitions from Mandela's imprisonment to the government violently assaulting and murdering demonstrators. The series has a reputation for an uncanny prescience when it comes to mirroring the real-life events surrounding the fall of Apartheid in South Africa.

South Africa's politics at the time, including assassinations and other tumult, almost invariably led to harsher crackdowns on the black population. "We need to put them out of their misery," one Prime Minister said, determined to crush the equal rights movement. In prison for a torturous 27 years, Mandela maintained his dignity and defiance toward his jailers, and he remained magnanimous toward them. Oliver Tambo (Orlando Jones) and Walter Sisulu (David Harewood of Supergirl) assist Mandela in his endeavours. As the film illustrates, Mandela has paid a terrible personal price in terms of his family and relationships as well as the ruthless tactics employed by the apartheid government.