1:28-2:56

After Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) is elected president of South Africa, his personal bodyguards have joined by additional white bodyguards who were also assigned. Jason, one of the bodyguards confronts Mandela and voices his grievances having to work with them.

In one of the first racial conflicts presented in the movie, Clint Eastwood covers this conversation between the bodyguard Jason and Nelson Mandela in only a few key setups. The scene features three characters, only two speaks. The secretary character is largely overlooked in the coverage of this scene, likely situated here to demonstrate how busy Mandela’s first day in the office is. 

In terms of blocking, both Jason and Mandela are directed to move around. Jason enters the scene and serves as the motivation for the camera as it pans around to reveal Mandela and his secretary. His dialogue with Mandela establishes a line between them; by which the camera setup is based around. Jason brings with him his complaint about the new white bodyguards who were assigned, through the over-the-shoulder shots, we can see that he is the only one standing in this scene, demonstrating his initial agitation over this decision. However, Mandela defends his decision. He too stands up and walks around his table and closer to Jason. As he walks around, the camera pans accordingly to maintain the line, keeping both of them in the shot whilst cutting off the secretary. As Mandela encourages Jason towards reconciliation and forgiveness, the camera too becomes tighter on their faces using a longer lens than the wider shots which precedes it. The camera placement in this scene follows the 180 degrees rule, this is effective for a conversation because cutting between naturally guides our eyes left and right when one character speaks.

The light source in the scene comes from outside the windows, this is used to simulate sunlight. Special care is taken as there are no other objects in the scene that is brighter than the windows, further creating the impression that this scene takes place during the day. The white linen curtains serve as a diffusion for the characters’ faces as this is a dialogue-heavy scene. Apart from this light, many of the lighting choices are to create background separation. I believe there is also a top light created by bouncing off the ceiling. This can be seen also to separate Jason from the interior in the over-the-shoulder shots. The windows behind Mandela acts as a backlight to separate Jason’s brown jacket from the wooden interior of the room as he enters the scene.