Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Powerful

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

First off, I was seriously skeptical about Idris Elba starring as Nelson Mandela, given the radical disparity in their appearance—at least judging by the well-known images of Mandela. Of course, most of us have not seen what he looked like as a young man, but it just seemed highly unlikely that it would be anything like the man who so successfully portrayed Stringer Bell in The Wire. To my amazement, some fantastic cosmetic work was done on Elba so that, at least in his later years, he bore some resemblance to Mandela. All in all, I was very impressed with Idris Elba's performance, even in the early part of the story, when he looked more like Stringer Bell. Maybe I should not be surprised, given that I have yet to encounter a case of bad acting on his part. As for the depiction of Mandela's life, the opening did a good job of showing how and why Mandela became involved in terrorist actions (vandalism), and the ending did a good job of showing how, after a few setbacks, he finally managed to quell violence. However, there was a huge jump from asking for trousers in the Robben Island prison to suddenly being invited to serve as the leader of Black South Africans and bring an end to the uncontrollable violence in the streets. There probably should have been a bit more included from the eighteen- year period of Mandela's imprisonment on the island. His writing? His other attempts at reform? Obviously, he did not become singled out for having succeeded in securing long pants for the "boys" or for having obediently broken rocks with the rest of the chain gang. What did Mandela do to garner the attention of the white South African leaders? No clue is given in this version of the story.Notwithstanding the missing details from the prison period, I consider this film to be a relative success. The acting was great all around, and the story shows the major events needed to make sense of Mandela's life. I would definitely recommend that anyone who is ignorant of this great man's story watch the movie. Obviously, this is not a scholarly biography, and I am confused about some of the reviewers who are comparing it to that, finding fault for it not being what it is not and could never be. There are limits to what can be done in even a long film (pushing 3 hours), and given those constraints, I feel that history has been responsibly represented, showing both sides of what happened—the fear on the part of the whites, how it turned into brutality; and the anger on the part of the blacks, how it turned into desire for revenge.

There have been numerous films, television programs, and documentaries that have discussed the life of Nelson Mandela. Not too mention the treasure trove of books, biographies, and interviews you can read and watch detailing his beliefs and politics. And Justin Chadwick's narrative film 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom' is yet another addition to the ever expanding universe of Mandela. Adapted by William Nicholson from Mandela's autobiography of the same name, this two and a half hour film seems like a long slow walk indeed, with too much to cover and some cheese sprinkled here and there. Although actor Idris Elba's performance of Mandela is one of the best I've ever seen, this long walk could have been better.We all know, or we should all know Mandela's story by now. He was an iconic, great and one of the most important people not only for South Africa, but for the world. His 27 year unjust prison sentence is just a small part of the film as we first meet Mandela in the frontier hills of South Africa being born. But as quickly as he is born we skip ahead to see him as a young lawyer, representing his clients, and even winning cases.But we soon see how South Africa turns into a white supremacist state, where all blacks have very little rights and are forced to move to shoddy housing away from everyone. Of course we see his rise as leader in the ANC (African National Congress), and a few of their plots to over throw the government. It is here, where we see Mandela's first marriage go down the tubes due to his affairs he has, as well as his work. Mandela and his fellow comrades are eventually captured and unjustly sentenced to life in prison.From this point, we slowly see Mandela age with gray hairs and wrinkles, all the while still having a strong presence, as he can move stone, rock, as well as people's views on freedom. His own views change from taking a violent approach to becoming an equal citizen to a peaceful approach. And Elba does this with grace and ease, as we believe everything he says. His body language and presence is awe-inspiring. His second wife Winnie (Naomie Harris) is a powerhouse here, as we see her take a separate path from Mandela, as she rallies people behind her and her husband's views, although her views are strictly violent, whereas Nelson's are to take a peaceful approach.What this movie has going for it is the performances by Elba and Harris. They really do carry this movie, but only so far. There are some elements that Chadwick added that seem to hit us on the nose to much and should have made us feel sad with tears, but this never truly happens, and it comes across as corny. This is not the ultimate Nelson Mandela movie, but it might be the ultimate performance of Mandela yet. For those of you who don't know a lot about this powerful figure in history, this is a good starting point, but if you are somewhat familiar, then I'd look elsewhere, although seeing Edris Elba as Mandela is a must.

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I initially thought Idris Elba was a strange choice to play Nelson Mandela, arguably the greatest person of the 20th century. Thankfully Elba is just magnificent here, and although his physical likeness is never quite there his mannerisms and voice was spot on.The film itself does a good job of cramming this incredible story into 2 hours without omitting anything too consequential. It's pretty much all here, starting with a race through Mandela's childhood onto his career in law and first marriage. Then the film really gets into gear with his introduction to the ANC, his marriage to Winnie, his bombing campaigns, eventual capture, imprisonment and the soul destroying years spent on Robben Island. Well I say soul destroying, maybe for me as a viewer, but not for the remarkable Mandela, who didn't bow, bend or crack under this incredible pressure.Some of the scenes in Robben Island are utterly heart breaking, particularly when Mandela is told his first born son has died in a car accident, and is denied the opportunity to attend the funeral or grieve in any meaningful way. Elba is astonishing here, you can feel his pain so acutely you almost want to look away.The final third of the movie deals with Mandela's negotiations with the government and his eventual release, and this is maybe where the film falls slightly flat. The monumental events unfolding are underplayed and slightly underwhelming. Still, it's a very enjoyable movie and Elba really shines here.

Idris Elba looks nothing like Madiba and yes that matters, because no matter how good the performance is, if an actor looks nothing like the person he is portraying, I can't get as invested. For example, part of the reason why Ali was a good film was because Will Smith looks like Ali. You think the film would have been as good if they cast Eddie Murphy in the role? Another main problem with the film is that it tries way to hard to fit every aspect into the story. In doing so, ironically we miss some of the emotional intensity of certain scenes. For example, I would have loved to have seen more of him in Ruben Island. Idris Elba gives his best as well as the rest of the cast, but the script they are given gives them very little to work with.Overall, there are a few pretty shots and like I said Idris Elba does give a good performance. However, if I'm honest, the lack of similarities between Elba are too distracting and the film is definitely worth skipping.