It ripples with tensions. This memorial service for Nelson Mandela was no exception. From among the 100 or so serving and former heads of state or government, it threw together both friends and enemies.
The most notable gesture of reaching out, in keeping with Mr Mandela's spirit of reconciliation, came from Barack Obama.
As he bounded onto the podium, Obama extended his hand to communist leader Castro, who shook it and smiled back.
His handshake with Cuba's Raul Castro was quite remarkable. Given the fact that the two nations have been at loggerheads for more than half a century.
The only previous known handshake between U.S. and Cuban presidents since the island's 1959 revolution was at the United Nations in 2000, when Raul's brother Fidel shook the hand of then-U.S. president Bill Clinton in a chance encounter.
Obama's gesture did not prevent him delivering tough words to leaders who, he said, invoked Mandela's struggle against oppression while quashing opposition and dissent at home. indirectly referring to the likes of Castro and Chinese Vice-President Li Yuanchao.
Also, in keeping with Mr Mandela's legacy, the current and former presidents of France, Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, well known to be rivals, arrived together.
But the bad feeling between them was not entirely effaced. Mr Sarkozy pointedly refused the comfort of a ride on Mr Hollande's presidential plane. And in the stadium, though the two were side by side, they sat stiffly, often looking in opposite directions.
Unlike Sakozy, former US President, George W. Bush did not turn down Obama's offer to ride on the same AirForce One. George Bush, a Republican and a political rival of Obama's Democractic party decided to forge an unusual companionship with Obama, thanks to Mandela.
Four British prime ministers were there - David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and John Major. It's thought to be the first time for many years that all of the surviving UK prime ministers have travelled abroad to the same event.
In the stadium, however, Mr Cameron was probably relieved not to find himself seated next to Mr Brown and Mr Blair - an awkward photo opportunity avoided.
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