Film Review: Analysis of Leadership Styles in Mandela Film

This report provides a comprehensive film review of 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,' focusing on the leadership styles exhibited by Nelson Mandela. The analysis delves into the character sketch of Mandela, highlighting his revolutionary ideas, his fight against apartheid, and his ability to mobilize the South African population. The report employs Robbins' framework of leadership to dissect Mandela's leadership qualities, including his oratory skills and his ability to influence diverse groups. The film's plot, which chronicles Mandela's journey from a herd boy to the president of South Africa, is examined, emphasizing his resilience and commitment to ending racial segregation. The report also discusses the film's portrayal of Mandela's personal life and his interactions with key figures. The report concludes by summarizing Mandela's leadership, emphasizing his charisma and ability to unite people. This film review is a valuable resource for students studying leadership and social movements.

Running head: FILM REVIEW- LEADERSHIP STYLES
FILM REVIEW- LEADERSHIP STYLES
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The respective paper is a report based on different kinds and types of leadership styles based on a
particular film from the given films to choose (in this case, Mandela). The report deeply
scrutinizes the film and the main character or the protagonist of the film, analyzes his/her
character, the leadership quality he/she possessed and how such quality did assist him/her to
achieve his/her goals. With the help of Robbin’s framework of leadership, the character of the
movie and his/her leadership styles and approaches are analyzed and interpreted in the respective
report effectively.

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Discussion...................................................................................................................................................3
Film Overview..........................................................................................................................................3
Plot of the film.........................................................................................................................................4
Character Sketch of the Protagonist.........................................................................................................5
Robbin’s Framework of Leadership........................................................................................................7
Mandela’s Leadership..............................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The respective paper is a report which is based on the leadership style depicted in the
movie “Mandela: Long walk to freedom”. Leadership on the grounds of sociology can be
defined as the power to convince others to act for a particular cause or happening. An effective
social leadership can not only transform the society and its structure but also the nation of the
respective society. The report deeply scrutinizes the film and the main character or the
protagonist of the film, analyzes his/her character, the leadership quality he/she possessed and
how such quality did assist him/her to achieve his/her goals. With the help of Robbin’s
framework of leadership, the character of the movie and his/her leadership styles and approaches
are analyzed and interpreted in the respective report effectively.
Discussion
Film Overview
Mandela: A long walk to freedom (2013) is a British South African biographical movie
based on the life of Nelson Mandela, an anti-apartheid revolutionary and the former president of
South Africa. The movie is largely influenced by the Autobiographical book written by Nelson
Mandela, namely, “Long walk to freedom” in the year 1995 (Denenberg 2014). The movie has
been directed by the famous director Justin Chadwick based on the script written by William
Nicholson that casted Idris Elba and Naomi Harris as the protagonists as well as the important
characters in the film. The plot of the movie revolves around the autobiographical records of the
South African revolutionary Nelson Mandela that chronicles as well as narrates his early life, the

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phase of his life when he turned a revolutionary from an ordinary man, his journey throughout
the anti-apartheid and anti-racist revolution all over South Africa against the white supremacists,
the twenty seven years he spent in prison before becoming the President of South Africa
(Horsthemke 2014). The film, in spite of receiving critical reviews, was successful in the box
office and according to the Rotten Tomatoes, the film had performed average and the film had
been entitled 6.2/10 by the Rotten Tomatoes critics (Motsaathebe 2015). The film had been
mentioned as well as criticized by the world history lecturer of Kings College, London, Vincent
Hiribarren where he stated that the film had clearly and precisely depicted the struggle Mandela
had to go through, Mandela’s understandings in the years when apartheid was preached and
practiced all over the nation of South Africa intensely and aggressively. The film depicted what
Mandela wanted the world to know about apartheid and its ground reality., dethroning all sorts of
preconceived notions or myths associated with the social evil of apartheid. The film, according to
Hiribarren, was not actually a biography of Mandela’s life; rather it depicted the own words of
Mandela and what message did he want to convey to the whole world regarding racism and
racial superiority (Tale 2019).
Plot of the film
The plot of the movie revolves around the autobiographical records of the South African
revolutionary Nelson Mandela that chronicles as well as narrates his early life, the phase of his
life when he turned a revolutionary from an ordinary man, his journey throughout the anti-
apartheid and anti-racist revolution all over South Africa against the white supremacists, the
twenty seven years he spent in prison before becoming the President of South Africa (Denenberg
2014). The movie begins with narrating the outstanding life of anti- apartheid revolutionary and
president of South Africa when the world inspirational icon Nelson Mandela takes up the center

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stage. The character of Nelson Mandela is played by Idris Elba. Though he had humble
beginnings as a herd boy in a rural village, Mandela became involved in the anti-apartheid
movement and co-founded the African National Congress Youth League. He happened to face a
plethora of challenges and struggles throughout his life to end the social evil of racism and
apartheid. His activities eventually led to his imprisonment on Robben Island from 1964 to 1990.
In 1994, Mandela became the first president of democratic South Africa (Yokota ). The life as
well as the message Nelson Mandela heralded has been clearly depicted in the movie, where the
spouse of Mandela was played by the veteran actor Naomi Harris, as a co-actor and a supporting
character of the main character in the movie.
Character Sketch of the Protagonist
The protagonist in the movie Mandela: A long walk to freedom has been depicted in the
movie as a radical man with revolutionary thoughts, ideas and passion. A radical idea or a radical
ideology is a form of a thought which is extremist and also very different from anything that has
come before it, usually associated with the ideals of emancipation of a particular community
from the hands of the institutionalized power structure or system (Bisschoff 2013). Mandela, in
the movie, has been shown as a radical revolutionary person who was concerned about the
problems of racism and apartheid which was common in South Africa in the early twentieth
century (Lukhele 2015). Apartheid was a policy or a system that segregated and/or rather,
discriminated people or individuals on the grounds of race, color and ethnicity. The European
colonizers and the conservative white supremacists who ruled throughout centuries on the land
of South Africa had preached, propagated and practiced the evil customs of apartheid and racial
discrimination against the blacks by denying them the basic rights which they were entitled to.
The blacks were not allowed in public recreational places, movie theaters and other places of

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entertainment. They were not given the right to vote and were only entitled to jobs of cheap labor
and less income. Therefore, the black South Africans were oppressed massively. In such
situation, It was Nelson Mandela, who, with his outstanding leadership skills and dexterity,
collectively accumulated the angry African population to bring out a successful revolution in the
society that demanded equality and an end to the social evil, apartheid. The character of Nelson
Mandela that was depicted in the movie was an organic character that not only had heroic
capabilities, but also possessed certain flaws of the ordinary men, such as fear, loathing,
adoration and awe regarding his environment and society. Throughout the movie, beginning
from Mandela’s protest regarding the false allegations given to a black domestic help of stealing
her mistress’ possessions on the grounds of racial hatred to the incident of death of a black drunk
in the custody of the white regulated police, Mandela had been depicted as an agitated young
man who believed in the proverb “educate, organize and agitate” the blacks and the colored in
order to bring social justice and order in the country (Cooke 2016). Before getting imprisoned for
the colossal twenty seven years, Mandela had exhibited his immense power and leadership skills
in order to organize and lead the African youth as well as the other revolutionary minded blacks
for opposing and dethroning the tyrant government. However, after the return of Mandela from
prison after twenty seven years, the charisma and charm of Mandela among his followers did not
diminish. Rather, the activist Mandela, by the time he returned home after prison, had already
become a dignitary and a statesman and a source of inspiration for the nation South Africa as
well as the progressive and revolutionary South Africans to a greater extent (Horsthemke 2014).
After getting released from the prison, he returned back to the stage where he belonged to,
influenced and urged the South Africans to return back from the civil war that was happening in
the nation in order to restore peace and tranquility throughout the nation, preaching the value of

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peace and reconciliation from both the sides; between the European whites and the native South
Africans. Throughout the journey of revolution on the grounds of racial equality and integrity,
the outstanding performance of Nelson Mandela and his leadership styles, policies and schemes
to agitate and mobilize the mobs to take action against a cause is the most remarkable feature of
the film (Horsthemke 2014).
Robbin’s Framework of Leadership
Robbins’ framework of leadership is based on the main factors, namely, leader
characteristics and traits, leadership behavior and style, the characteristics of the group members
which is further directly as well as indirectly proportional to internal as well as external
environment of the particular society and the dynamics and statics of that particular society
where the leadership is being formulated and operated (Booysen and Beaty 1997). The first
factor, which is characteristic traits of the leader is the most important factor because it is the
cognitive as well as assertive power of the leader of a group who would be solely responsible for
the activities and outcomes of the group and his/her followers. The second factor, leadership
approaches and styles is most significant as it is the nerve center of a group that determines how
a group would act or perform holistically as well as objectively. The third important factor which
is the characteristics of the group members is directly proportional to the abilities of the leader.
The different personality traits of the group members determine what kind of leadership has to be
practiced and vice versa. The fourth factor in the framework, which is internal and external
environment, is an integral part of leadership approaches and styles. I n certain arena, the
external and internal environment within as well as outside the group has a considerable
magnitude of influence on the group culture and leadership styles as well. Therefore, such factors
are the integral parts of the framework of leadership styles as stated by Robbins (1997). Keeping

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in mind the structure, the leadership styles and approaches taken up by Nelson Mandela during
his political years have been diversely and elaborately comprehended in the respective paper.
Mandela’s Leadership
The only goal of Nelson Mandela behind his activities of organizing, agitating and
mobilizing the South African population against the white supremacists was to eradicate the
social evils of apartheid and racial segregations against the blacks. He fought for the basic human
rights for the blacks. He also fought for the doubled oppression faced by the black women in the
patriarchal as well as racist society of South Africa. At the beginning of the movie, it was shown
that Nelson Mandela had the charisma and power to influence and manipulate everybody around
him and he wanted no part in anything which he could not do by himself ( Cankurtaran 2016).
1. The most important trait in the leadership approach of Nelson Mandela was his
outstanding oratory skills which had the potential to influence the mobs as well as the
black intellectuals up to a greater extent (Read 2010). The power of his words was class
apart and could be taken as one of the most significant reasons for him to gain such a
gigantic and titanic popularity among the oppressed and angry citizens of South Africa.
The colloquial yet eloquent speeches of Nelson Mandela not only attracted the attention
of the people, but also of the marginalized sections of the society, including women,
peasants and the workers or the proletariats (Biwi 2013). His peers had been incited and
ignited into action with the help of his outstanding public speaking and motivational
skills. However, it also has to be remembered that revolutionaries become revolutionaries
for a particular cause. Mandela was highly perturbed by the ill-fate of the blacks in his
country, probably, because he was a black too. Therefore, he could relate himself with the
plight of his own community. Mandela, apart from having incredible speaking skills, had

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an inclination of taking up the issues such as freedom, family and voice of the
government in his speeches in order to enter into the private corner of the people and
influence them (Ahya 2017).
2. The leadership style that had been taken up by Nelson Mandela was that Mandela viewed
the conflict or the revolution in terms of variable sum, and not zero sum terms (Read
2010). Mandela was an influential leader. He was an inspiration for many in the country.
The transformational style that was adopted by Mandela in order to carry on the
leadership. He upraised the consciousness of his followers by appealing to their
principles and higher values, encouraging many politically motivated individuals or
groups to educate themselves as the only key to success in the fight against apartheid and
racial segregation. It is considered that he followed democratic transformational
leadership style to influence his followers and gain political competence (Essop 2017).
3. It has to be understood that the characteristic traits of the people (mobs, common people,
dignitaries and intellectuals) of South Africa was submissive yet agitated towards the
tyrant government that ruled them, snatching away their basic rights and privileges as
human beings and their integrity as an individual was hampered (NAILUFAR 2014).
Therefore, it was effective for Nelson Mandela to evoke revolutionary thoughts, ideas
and ideology in them. Therefore, the political party of Mandela entered into the villages
of South Africa to mobilize the prolific yet ignorant population of the villagers of the
nation in order to bring revolution and provide them their basic rights which they were
unaware of (Rodriguez 2015). The ill-fated South African blacks, who had nothing left to
be called their own, was overwhelmed by receiving such a radical yet prolific and solemn
leader who was expected to emancipate them from the shackles of racial segregation and

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racism. The South Africans desired to view South Africa in a much egalitarian context
with the arrival of Nelson Mandela as not only their leader, but also their savior, which is
still regarded as a legacy in South Africa till now (Ahya 2017).
4. The external and internal environment of South Africa influenced the leadership
approach of Nelson Mandela. In the background of racism and apartheid in South Africa,
there had also been an external as well as an internal environment of rebellion and
revolution within the black and colored society of South Africa. Beginning from the
streets and coffee houses to the bedroom of the South African blacks, a spark of
revolution was slowly creeping in and the common people, who were oppressed, were
also agitated. Therefore, the environment of rebellion and oppression gave rise to a leader
like Mandela who worked relentlessly for the emancipation of blacks from racism and
complete annihilation of racism and apartheid from the soil of South Africa (Read, J.H.,
2010).
Conclusion
The respective paper is a report which is based on the leadership style depicted in the
movie “Mandela: Long walk to freedom”. The report deeply scrutinizes the film and the main
character or the protagonist of the film, analyzes his/her character, the leadership quality he/she
possessed and how such quality did assist him/her to achieve his/her goals. The report concludes
by providing an overview of the film, the plot and the reviews of the film and the idea that is
heralded with the help of the movie, its theme and the characters present in it. The protagonist of
the film is Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid revolutionary and the former president of South
Africa. The leadership qualities and approaches of Mandela had been elaborated. With the help

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of Robbin’s framework of leadership, the character of the movie Mandela and his leadership
styles and approaches are analyzed and interpreted in the respective report effectively.