Plot
A chronicle of Nelson Mandela's life journey from his childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa.
Release Year: 2013
Rating: 5.8/10 (651 voted)
Director:Justin Chadwick
Storyline
A chronicle of Nelson Mandela's life journey from his childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa.
Trivia: Tom Hooper was linked to the director role for this film and even met Nelson Mandela' during development. See more »
User Review
Author:
Rating: 10/10
I saw this movie on Sept. 8 at the Toronto Film Festival. It was an
honest and powerful portrayal of Mandela the man and the toll his
striving for a better South African society took on his personal life.
The movie showed how his first marriage crumbled because his wife
couldn't take his long absences from her and their 4 children while his
role in the ANC and the anti-apartheid movement became his greater
focus. Although he explained to her that he was doing this work for all
of South Africa's black people and the children who were growing up in
those oppressed conditions, his own children suffered for his strong
convictions for the greater good. He married a woman he truly loved,
Winnie, and had 2 daughters with her. Although Winnie supported and
fought alongside Mandela for the cause, this family ultimately
suffered, too, when he continued his campaign with the ANC and it
turned to more drastic means to send a message to the South African
government. As a result of his arrest and conviction for those actions,
he spent 27 years away from his young family. There were some truly
heart-wrenching moments and the actor who played Mandela, Idris Elba,
convincingly conveyed the doubts and regrets that Mandela felt in not
being able to be with his wife and children all those years.
The movie showed this personal side of the Mandela story well. It
skipped through the facts that are well known and easily accessed. This
wasn't the focus of the movie. Now knowing the great sacrifices he
endured to achieve the freedom he desired for all black South Africans,
it made me ever more grateful for having witnessed a small part of the
Mandela story. I was part of the "Free Mandela" movement in the late
'80's and I saw him speak when he came to Toronto in 1990. Seeing this
movie, with it's inclusion of live footage from that time, brought back
memories of the emotions of the era, the "Boycott South African goods"
campaign, the elation when Mandela was finally freed, and feeling the
goosebumps when he spoke. He was, and is, one of the most inspiring,
great leaders of our time. I highly recommend everyone go see this
movie when it is widely released. It will leave you wanting to learn
more about Mandela (I plan to read his autobiography bearing the same
name as the movie), and maybe even go out and do your part to make this
a better society too, however small the contribution. As Mandela says
in the movie, "Alone we have no power, together, we have the power to
change the world".
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