Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela, by Thomas Allen Harris (2005) tells a historically important and deeply personal story using a wide assortment of documentary tools. We meet a group of anti-apartheid activists and also learn about the larger context of nationalist movements in Africa. One of the South African activists, now dead, was the filmmaker's stepfather, Benjamin Pule Leinaeng, and his story ties the larger sweep of history to the relationship between parents and child. Modern day interviews with the participants (top still: Harris's mother), old photographs and home movies, and effective reenactments (bottom still) seamlessly work together.
