映画の終盤、マンデラ氏がアパルトヘイト時代の恨みから白人に対して暴力的に振る舞う黒人たちに語りかけた言葉に、私がずっと探していた答えの手がかりを見つけました。
「白人に対する復讐などしたら、彼らと同じになってしまう。我々はもっと上手くやれるはずだ。」（注：私の記憶から起こした言葉なので、実際の台詞とは異なります。）
自分たちを苦しめ続けた相手を赦すことができた理由は、彼自身の「尊厳」が揺るぎないものだったからではないかと思いました。
女性遍歴や家族との触れ合いなど、人間味あふれる個性も映画の中で表されており、マンデラ氏の人懐こい笑顔の秘密も分かったような気がしました。
Dignity
I watched “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” a movie based on
his autobiography. The story was mostly about his struggle against apartheid
and imprisonment, which were essentially what his life was about.
I found a clue for an answer of my long-time question, toward
the end of the movie, in his words to black people who were acting violently
against white people with resentment from apartheid.
“We will be the same as white people if we use violence to
them. We can do better.” (Note: this is from my memory and it may be different
from actual dialogue.)
I thought that he could forgive those who had afflicted his
race because he had solid “dignity” in himself.
There were some scenes to show his human personality including
love affairs and family time and they made me feel that I understood the secret
of his warm smiles.
