Watch Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom For Free

Fresh and Exciting

Brilliant and touching

An action-packed slog

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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.

'Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom' tilts occasionally in the direction of political hagiography, but given the nature of it's remarkable protagonist, that is hardly surprising. For all that, Idris Elba proves his acting chops is a wonderfully nuanced and always believable performance. The relationship between Nelson and Winnie Mandela is nicely handled: the sweet young social worker embracing hatred and violence in response to her treatment at the hands of the Apartheid regime set in contrast to Nelson's advocacy (moral, but also politically pragmatic) advocacy of peace and reconciliation. The underrated Naomie Harris goes some way to humanising an often demonised figure as Winnie Mandela...but it is still very much Mr Elba's show.

Now I think Biopics can be a mixed bag as they sometimes can be boring and long winded but this film is great and truly encapsulates the true problems that Mandela and South Africa truly went through during the time period. This story documents the journey of Nelson Mandela as he attempts to battle racism in some trying circumstances. Now Idris Elba is easily one of the best actors working in Hollywood today and he becomes Nelson Mandela with his performance being mesmerising and one of the most impressive performances there has been in a biopic ever. Naomie Harris plays his wife and she does a fantastic job in her role with her character having a much bigger role then I originally expected and her character took some directions that were not expected but great. However, I believe they could have used the rest of the cast more affectively in their roles that would have added the tension with other characters. The story is pretty epic obviously with this being the story of Mandela's life and the opening parts and the jail part of the film being really interesting but I do wish they had spent more time on the political problems and when Mandela finally gets the power to make change. The script is great with the exchanges between Elba and Harris being great and all the lines delivered by those two are superb. The style of the film is also really good with the director really willing to show graphic things that really added to the drama in the film. Overall this is a really good film that gives Mandela Justice.

If you didn't know Idris Elba before this, you will remember his name after this. Mandela you knew (most likely), but if you hadn't read up on him or followed his his life in general, you might not know some of the things that are displayed here. And he's not only shown as being "good" (though that term is always something that can be argued about) in the movie either.Every man has downsides and every man will have flaws. That doesn't change the fact that Mandella did something great and was a voice that could not be silenced. This lead to family issues obviously and those are portrayed here too. It's hard to get all the details and since this is a movie there is some freedom (no pun intended) in the storytelling. But overall this could be watched in History classes in School.