I don't know much about south african history around mandela and aparthied beyond the main headlines, and watching Mandela was the first exposure to the details.
So, how fair of a representation was it? Are there any major inaccuracies, omissions or deviations from history in the movie as it regards to Mandela's life or aparthied africa?
Yes there are some differences. in the sharpeville massacre there were only 9 police officers though in the movie it shows a lot more than that and the police never took up a firing formation, one officer opened fire in fear of his life when they noted machetes and pistols being moved closer and the rest joined in. it also fails to mention that a similar situation occurred 2 weeks prior but the police didn't open fire and were brutally murdered when protesters pulled out guns and machetes. This is one of many mistakes in the movie.