Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Stringer Bell does his best but is wrapped in way to much melodrama. I am still to watch a really good Mandela film...

Unacceptable. That it compresses 60 years into 2.5 hours and simplifies matters is fair. That it hints at the complexity of Mandela's character but ignores it in favor of a hagiographic approach is not. William Nicholson's script so rarely reaches below the surface that the occasional attempts to do so are off-putting. Idris Elba gives it his all, and the makeup really does make him look like Mandela, but to no great avail. Naomie Harris (as Winnie) has even less to do. Solidly produced, though.

Elba is good as the young Mandela but really hams it up as the old one. Script has no red string and Chadwick is totally lost as the director.

Entertainment: 3.5/4. Spirituality: 2/3. Sustainability: 2/3.

Takes a very complicated topic and reduces it to a comic book story--out of necessity, since there's so little time to cover everything. That would be fine, except it also wants us to take the topic seriously. You can't have it both ways. Production quality is very high and the acting is good but the script and editing undermines this movie. Should have been a miniseries.

Beautiful and sad.

Nelson Mandela did great things, and this film highlights them. But that's kind of it - highlights. It's fairly long and covers most of his life, but I don't remember much of what actually happened in it, despite having just finished watching it. Most of the film is just boring, to be frank. It just scrapes the surface of the events of his life. The man himself wasn't given much depth. The cinematography is nice and Idris Elba is great, but they're not enough to make a good movie.

Some important events are skimmed over, and, as most people will tell you, it's at least 20-30 minutes too long, but this is still one of the better biopics I've seen. Inspiring, moving, and boasts a powerhouse, best-of-the-year performance from Elba.

This ultraboring movie is an insult to this great man...

It's a long walk till this movie finally ends. Such a big man, but such a boring film.

Somehow made one of the story of one of the most remarkable people of the 20th century kind of boring. Would probably have benefited from the slower pace and space to breathe of a mini-series.

They weren't kidding in the title when they said this was long. Nelson Mandela is a good and important man in history. It's a shame a film about his life was so drawn out and boring. I was also confused why they had to show so many Mandela love-making scenes. Maybe it's important to some, I guess? Still, I love Idris Elba as an actor and he did a very good job as Mandela...

Idris Elba is an absolute powerhouse; his performance here alone would be enough to elevate any Mandela biopic above mediocrity. This one is demonstrably above such a designation, though it's not without its flaws: even at a 150-minute runtime, elements feel rushed; there's the occasional inappropriate sacrifice of politics for family drama. Still, it's a compelling, intense, and largely honest portrait, and the central performance deserves your attention.

Pretty accurate and moving account of his story, including Winnie's part. Avoided his communist/socialist associations, but his greatest accomplishment, leading S. African blacks away from revenge, deserved the emphasis it was given.

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom gives us a depiction of a man who wasn't always that great. He cheated on his wife. He ignored his own children at times. He committed acts of violence and sabotage. The movie, as generous as it is with Mandela's legacy, does not shy away from those uncomfortable truths. Nor does it turn away from the horrific violence perpetrated against him and his peers. (pluggedin.com)

Enjoyment: 7/10, Plot: 9/10 Themes: 9/10 Cinematography: 8/10 Direction: 8/10 Acting: 9/10 Writing: 8/10 Score: 8/10 Editing: 8/10 Design: 9/10

I'm usually not wild about biopics, and this one is pretty ambitious. It's attempting to cover the span of pretty much his entire adult life, which was indeed a long and complicated one. Still, it's largely successful. It's a beautifully shot and well-paced movie. I would have liked a better treatment of his re-conversion to nonviolence, but I'm not actually certain that my own understanding of that is accurate, so I'll accept what's presented for what it is.