The Color of Friendship
| The Color of Friendship | |
|---|---|
VHS cover
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| Written by | Paris Qualles |
| Story by | Piper Dellums |
| Directed by | Kevin Hooks |
| Starring |
Carl Lumbly Penny Johnson Lindsey Haun Shadia Simmons |
| Theme music composer | Stanley Clarke |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) |
Kevin Hooks Christopher Morgan |
| Cinematography | David Herrington |
| Editor(s) | Richard Nord |
| Running time | 87 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Alan Sacks Productions |
| Distributor | Disney-ABC Domestic Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | Disney Channel |
| Original release | February 5, 2000 |
The Color of Friendship is a 2000 television film based on actual events about the friendship between two girls; Mahree & Piper, one from the United States and the other from apartheid South Africa, who learn about tolerance and friendship. The film was directed by Kevin Hooks, based on a script by Paris Qualles, and stars Lindsey Haun and Shadia Simmons.
In 1977, Piper Dellums (Shadia Simmons) is a black girl who lives in Washington, D.C. with her father, Congressman Ron Dellums (Carl Lumbly), an outspoken opponent of the South African apartheid system and the oppression of black South Africans, her mother Roscoe Dellums (Penny Johnson), and two younger twin brothers, Brandy (Anthony Burnett) and Erik (Travis Davis). Piper, who has been taking an interest in the different nations of Africa, begs her parents to host an African exchange student.
Meanwhile, in South Africa, Mahree Bok (Lindsey Haun) is a white South African who lives in a manor house with her parents and little brother. They comfortably benefit from the system of apartheid without questioning its morality; Mahree's father, Pieter Bok, is a South African policeman who cannot hide his joy when Steve Biko (a black South African man fighting against apartheid) has just been captured. They also have a black maid, Flora (Melanie Nicholls-King), whom Mahree, in her racial blindness, considers her best friend, not realizing that Flora is not satisfied with her life under apartheid. However, Mahree's observation is not entirely wrong, as Flora is a kindly woman who is indeed friendly with the Bok children, believing that gentleness and persuasion work better than agitation. Flora tells Mahree that when she was a little girl she would observe the weaver bird, which has many different styles of plumage, and its communal nest-building, which is used as a metaphor for the possibility of racial harmony that Mahree does not understand at the time. Mahree also asks her parents for permission to study in America, which is granted by her father, who believes she will either get homesick or realize that America is not a paradise. However, Mahree is slightly aware of some of the injustices of her society, as a black busboy gets slugged for spilling a tray, which she finds revolting.
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