In 1948 South African President Hendrick Verweord announced his plans for apartheid, which he shamefully described as “a policy of good neighbourliness." For the next forty years the world turned a blind eye to this disgraceful segregation and its attendant murders.

Amandla! deals with a small part of this history; the role of music in South Africa; using it to give a broad sketch of the various stages of apartheid, and how traditional songs were used to fuel protest and lament the loss of a nation.

The film opens with the exhumation of Vuyisile Mini, a man generally regarded as South Africa’s finest songwriter, but who was given a pauper’s burial after execution in 1964. Through focussing on specific songs, like Mini’s "Beware Verwoerd! (The Black Man Is Coming!)," Amandla! tells the chronological story of the anti-apartheid struggle.

Naturally, there are moments of great emotional power. At a rally to celebrate his release from prison, Nelson Mandela dances to Hugh Masekela’s "Mandela," a song that had been sung for years despite the very mention of his name being banned. The smaller stories are equally affecting. Two sisters, who lived through the whole bloody period, defiantly treat the subject with humour, singing an old song about the pain of having to serve your oppressors: “Madam please, before you ask if your children are fine, ask me when I last saw mine.”

Lee Hirsch, a first-time director, spent nearly ten years on this film, searching out archive material and getting to know his subjects. This extraordinary effort has produced a powerful film, and a stirring tribute to the spirit and warmth of the South African people. The film is beautifully shot, using a wealth of archive footage and some surprisingly frank interviews.

However despite its format, Amandla! isn’t particularly interested in the development of songs themselves, but rather uses this theme to generate an expressive narrative; a multi-voiced personal history of the apartheid struggle. As such, Amandla! lacks the focus of other recent documentary successes, but the power of the subject matter and the wonderfully uplifting music make it a quite inspiring experience.

(Released by Artisan Entertainment and rated "PG-13" for some images of violence and momentary language.)