A few weeks ago “Madiba” died. He was 95 years old. At the same time, Idris Elba, who acts Nelson Mandela on screen, knew his death during the London premiere. Now here is my review for the biopic about Nelson Mandela.
I confess that before watching this film, I had a little apprehension. I was afraid of getting bored by watching a film that lasted almost 2h30, and looking forward to the end of it. Fortunately it was not the case.
The story starts when Mandela is 35 years old. He is a lawyer and meets his first wife Evelyn who disappears as quickly as she comes on the screen. The one who takes the whole space is his second wife Winnie, an activist, who was still married to him when he was in jail.
This biopic is not only a film about Mandela the hero of South Africa but Mandela the man and we see that he was not alone in this desperate struggle against Apartheid and for peace. Some members of the ANC (African National Congress) were put in jail with him.
The most part of the film shows Mandela’s prison life and his non-renunciation to peace and equality between “Europeans” and “non- Europeans” from the bottom of his cell. It was quite interesting to see that despite all these years in prison and his prisoner status, Mandela had some influence in politics. He was the one people listened and he was feared among the “Europeans”.
I cannot say that it was a bad movie but I it did not transcend me either.
This is not a movie that you can watch for entertaining but to pay tribute to a man who sacrificed his life and all that we have to say is “Wow this is true! He has suffered so much! ” But we already knew that… Nevertheless, the actor’s performance was very good. They tried to act as they were South-Africans to give a credibility to their character. I was disappointed by the makeup for making Idris Elba look older throughout the film. We tried to make it look like Mandela then it would be better to make him look older his own features.
Then, what bothered me is when I saw “Harvey Weinstein” at the end of the credit. It sounds silly, but we know that even if the film was truly bad (which is not the case for this one), it will still have a lot of awards. Furthermore, this is a biopic and people are fond of that kind of movie, especially because Mandela died three weeks ago and was a great man…
As for crisis and conflict level, I will not spread on it since we know the story and History. Finally, the only interest I find is the soundtrack (especially the ending theme “Ordinary Love” by U2)
Finally, the only interest I find is the soundtrack (especially the ending theme “Ordinary Love” by U2) so are the costumes, because, in the end, we do not learn that much. I mean I did not learn a thing
To conclude, if you don’t know anything about Mandela, if the word Apartheid is as unknown as the word racism to you, it means that you live in a fantasy land and you need to watch this movie. But if you do know those things, you can stay at home.
Here are not one but two quotes I got from this film : “Alone we cannot fight. But together, we have the power.” – ” The only way forward is peace.”
Actors Performance
Directing
Screenplay
Soundtrack
Final Note
Is it #DudeChick certified ?
Beacause Nelson Mandela was and will forever be a great Man.
