MARIA DUARTE, LEO BOIX and ANGUS REID review Brides, Dead of Winter, A Night Like This, and The Librarians
‘May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears’
The Nelson Mandela statue in Pretoria epitomises the early, but yet to be fulfilled, promise of an all-embracing prosperous ‘Rainbow Nation’
THE REDEEMER: Nelson Mandela statue in Pretoria
[Haruba-bad/Creative Commons] ![REBELS: Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar in Nadia Fall’s powerful debut feature Brides [Pic: IMDb]](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/desktop/public/2025-09/round%20up%20web_0.jpg.webp?itok=41xI6jhN)
MARY CONWAY recommends an early Shakespearean tragedy that feels so contemporary that it mirrors our daily news
A ghost story by Mexican Ave Barrera, a Surrealist poetry collection by Peruvian Cesar Moro, and a manifesto-poem on women’s labour and capitalist havoc by Peruvian Valeria Roman Marroquin
DAVID NICHOLSON recommends a dazzling production of Bernstein’s opera set in a world where chaos and violence are greeted by equanimity
MARY CONWAY is frustrated by a new play that loses its drama amid the moral dilemma of re-settling children in the aftermath of WWII
Acclaimed as a masterpiece when it premiered, this study of story-telling in an Irish pub more than lives up to expectations, says MARY CONWAY
SYLVIA HIKINS relishes a comedy that dives deep into Liverpool’s divided loyalties
NELSON MANDELA died eight years ago on December 5 2013. This statue of him was unveiled on December 16 — the official Day of Reconciliation — thus ending the 10-day-long period of mourning.
The nine-metre-high bronze figure is the tallest figurative statue of Nelson Mandela and weighs approximately 3.5 tonnes. Its outstretched arms span eight metres and are uncannily reminiscent of Paul Landowski’s 1930 art deco Christ the Redeemer overlooking Rio de Janeiro from the Corcovado mountain peak.
The statue, which emanates warmth, humanity and welcome, was cast in 147 separate pieces at four different foundries before being assembled in Cape Town.
More from this author
Inspired by a photograph, a unique memorial in Michigan immortalises US true labour heroes. MICHAL BONCZA recalls a great story rarely told
MICHAL BONCZA highly recommends a revelatory exhibition of work by the doyen of indigenous Australians’ art, Emily Kam Kngwarray
Despite an over-sentimental narrative, MICHAL BONCZA applauds an ambitious drama about the Chinese rescue of British POWs in WWII
Strip cartoons used to be the bread and butter of newspapers and they have been around for centuries. MICHAL BONCZA asks our own Paul Tanner about which bees are in his bonnet
