MovieChat Forums > The Color of Friendship (2000) Discussion > The Mystery of the Real Mahree

The Mystery of the Real Mahree

posted 14 years ago by cherielia
13 replies | jump to latest

Oh my gosh, I just found out that this was based on a true story. I always thought it was just a made up Disney movie.

Anyway. The real Mahree's name was Carrie. And the Dellums lost touch with her after she returned to South Africa. No one knows what happened to her, but it's speculated that she was probably killed at the age of 16 due to her activist role. I heard that, and I honestly felt like crying. I've been watching this movie for 10 years, and it's always been one of my favorite Disney movies. I feel so attached to these characters. To know that in real life, the ending may not have been as happy is so amazingly heartbreaking.

Oh, and also, I'm wretchedly in love with you

[–] DisneyPrincessforlife 14 years ago

That is tragic but likely sadly, i teared up a little when I heard about it.

"Because I knew you, I have been changed...for good."

[–] fitley 10 years ago

It is very unlikely that she was murdered for being an activist. White activists were, at worst, just given a slap on the wrist compared to what happened to black activists. And a young teenage girl would not have been taken seriously by the authorities. There were afterall many many other groups protesting.

Many terrible things happened during Apartheid and it is great that this movie is preaching a message of friendship across races, but the movie is more than a little ignorant about South African life during Apartheid.

The idea that a young white girl would have been killed by the government is nigh preposterous. It would have been all over the news. And even if they tried to cover it up, it would have been uncovered by now. The real life Carrie would then be a very big public figure (just as big as all the other struggle heroes) for the role she apparently played. If she were real, our current government would have spared no costs at finding out about her. Even if she was murdered and everything was covered up, then why is there not a huge investigation going on? Murder is murder and it would be investigated.

People seem to think that South Africa is so backwards, that people wouldn't make a big deal out of a girl being killed? If Carrie was indeed a real life person, she would be a huge celebrity in South Africa today. And she isn't.

The truth is, most white South Africans would not have cared if their children were living with non-white people overseas. Many white South Africans travelled/studied around the world. And if they let their children participate in exchange programmes, then the parents would have obviously known there would have been a chance of their children living with non-whites. Even the most racist South Africans wouldn't have worried, they would have merely seen the host family as "servants" and not as a threat. The idea that the government back then would have intervened, is equally ridiculous. They had no right to interfere in people travelling overseas. And the US government would certainly not have allowed it either.

This movie is really touching and sweet. Many South Africans loved watching it, but we can't help but giggle a bit about how people seem so ignorant about South Africa. That is afterall the main theme in the movie is not? Overcoming ignorance?

This is what upsets me the most. If people are so ignorant of what really happened during Apartheid, then how will they really learn the necessary lessons in order to prevent it from happening again.

[–] jmatrixrenegade 10 years ago

"If she were real, our current government would have spared no costs at finding out about her."

Why? She wasn't (assuming she is dead) an American citizen. The movie took place in the late '70s. In the early '80s, it still was controversial to boycott South Africa. Mandela only came to power later. In the early '80s, it still would be quite unsafe in South Africa to be a radical.

The actual daughter of the congressman this story was based on wrote a short account that served as guidance for this movie. See her account in "Open Your Eyes: Extraordinary Experiences in Faraway Places." She wrote an addendum that talked about what happened to the white girl she named "Carrie," including how 'Carrie' worked for change & wrote to her that things were getting dangerous. How others had disappeared. Then, she stopped writing and letters came back "return to sender." In fact, she noted that they did try to find her via official channels but failed.

[–] fitley 10 years ago

Why? She wasn't (assuming she is dead) an American citizen.

I know, I'm South African, so by "our government" I am referring to the South African government.

It wasn't unsafe to be a radical and protest against the government. Most university students were doing it by then. And most people were against the government. By the late 70's people knew that a change was coming and the government knew better than to become violent towards its own people (ie the white population). The idea that a young girl would have disappeared it really very ludicrous.

South Africa wasn't some kind of hell hole war zone were people could easily disappear. If the person existed everyone in South Africa would know about it by now.

Please read my entire post and then you will see why I say these things.

[–] jmatrixrenegade 10 years ago

Okay as to you being South African. Noted.

Others have pointed out that it was "unsafe" to be a radical and protest in the 1970s. I'm American. People knew "change" was coming in race relations in the South in the 1950s. This didn't stop there being violence and even murder in that last decade. This included white people being beaten up and in some cases being killed. And, bad as racial segregation was in the U.S., it wasn't apartheid level.

I "read your entire post." I'm not saying SA was some sort of "hell hole." It was unsafe in various ways & various people have provided lots of data on the point. Again, given my country's recent history, I'm not going to get all high and mighty too much on the point.

Also, it need not be "the government" that harmed the woman here (if she was harmed -- the point holds that she disappeared and Piper Dellums did use official U.S. channels to try to find her -- I don't recall her giving details in her brief comment in the book, but it would logically include contacting SA authorities). In my country, criminal elements usually (though the government was involved in various respects) did it such as the KKK.

[–] fitley8 10 years ago

This included white people being beaten up and in some cases being killed. And, bad as racial segregation was in the U.S., it wasn't apartheid level.

Actually, in many cases, Apartheid wasn't nearly as bad as in the South of America. And yes, a few white individuals did get killed, but every one of them is known to the public.

I'm sure there could have been one family that didn't want their daughter to live with non-whites, but it would never have turned out the way it did in this movie. That is why I appreciate the sentiment of the movie, but there is absolutely no way the real Mahree would have been killed. Her name would be known to almost every South African, if she were.

Finally, I seriously doubt a white South Africa family - or even the government - would have freaked out about Mahree living with African-Americans. Black Americans were seen (And indeed legally classified) by the South African government as "white". Seriously. And so were the Japanese and Koreans, while the Chinese were "black". It doesn't make sense, but that is the way it was.

Again, great movie and I understand the need for dramatization, but there is no way that the real Mahree would have been killed without the story becoming a HUGE scandal in South Africa.

And that is why this claim by the author is just a little bit annoying to me.

[–] taos65 10 years ago

Not true about how America handled Apartheid. At no time was it "controversial" to support the anti-Apartheid movement, knowledge of Apartheid just wasn't widespread enough for average people to know that it existed.

The tennis great, Arthur Ashe, took on the cause of Apartheid in the 1970s. He was part of a large African-American delegation who went to South Africa to take part in anti-Apartheid activity in the 1980s, and was part of protests here in the US in the 1980s. He was one of the first Americans who had media attention for other reasons, to bring Apartheid to the attention to the general American population. While most Americans probably didn't care, many more had their eyes opened.

Stevie Wonder sang about Apartheid in the 1980s. Rage Against the Machine sang against Apartheid before Mandela was freed.

In 1986, Congress overrode President Reagan's veto to pass the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, imposing sanctions on South Africa until 5 preconditions were met. They were only repealed in 1991 when that progress was made.

[–] Stratego (29246) 4 years ago

Dang, you're dumb.

[–] whitespirit26 10 years ago

Oh my gosh, how heartbreakingly sad!!

[–] joekill162 8 years ago

The real person never exist, because if she was real she would of emerge after Mandela became president and lets not forget her father was a cop, the missing children police officers always makes the paper, even small newspaper, what i don't get is that if she was real a picture would of existed from the dellums, your telling me she stayed with the family and their was no family pictures school pictures i call B.S. on her story.

[–] Stratego (29246) 4 years ago

"The real Mahree's name was Carrie. And the Dellums lost touch with her after she returned to South Africa. No one knows what happened to her, but it's speculated that she was probably killed at the age of 16 due to her activist role."

Lol, that sounds preposterous! Now I'm convinced there's no real Mahree and they just pulled the story out of their a**.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Indeed.

[–] Kowalski (57914) 4 years ago

"The film is based on two separate instances in which the Dellums family hosted a white South African teenage girl as an exchange student. Both instances were combined into a single story for the film"