Susan Granger’s review of “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” (The Weinstein Company)
Talk about perversely uncanny timing: two of Nelson Mandela’s daughters were attending the premiere of this biopic in London when they received news of their 94 year-old father’s death. And renewed global interest, following the televised funeral of the beloved former South African president, has propelled the box-office for this dutiful docudrama.
Mandela’s historical journey begins as a Xhosa herd boy in South Africa’s rural Cape region before following his formative years and education as a Johannesburg lawyer and rebel against the repressive Apartheid regime of white Afrikkaners. His leadership position in the ANC (African National Congress) led to his incarceration and isolation for 27 years in Robben Island prison, a former leper colony off the Cape Town coast. Eventually, Mandela became South Africa’s first democratically elected President and rebuilt his country’s once-segregated society.
While still in prison, Mandela corresponded with South African film producer Anant Singh (“Sarafina’), who was determined to make this film. Based on Nelson Mandela’s massive 1994 autobiography, it’s simplistically condensed and conventionally adapted by William Nicholson (“Shadowlands,” “Gladiator,” “Les Miserables”) with reverential direction by Justin Chadwick (“The Other Boleyn Girl,” “The First Grader”). The epic political saga is punctuated by “Madiba’s” personal life and womanizing. That includes his fractious first marriage to fellow ANC activist Evelyn Mase (Terry Pheto) and second to younger social worker Winnie Madikizela (Naomie Harris), who became so increasingly radicalized, hardened and alienated that they were forced to separate and live apart.
“Their only victory over me,” Mandela says, “is what they have done to my wife.”
Although he doesn’t physically resemble Nelson Mandela, British actor Idris Elba’s meticulous performance is magnificent in its nobility and anguish, capturing not only the distinctive accent but also the essence of Prisoner 46664, who confronted adversity with perseverance in his inspiring determination to achieve the goal of racial equality.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” is a relentlessly respectful 7, yet lacking the intense emotional punch that would have made it great.