(UK/South Africa, 139 min.)
Dir. Justin Chadwick, Writ. William Nicholson
Starring: Idris Elba, Naomie Harris
Thursday night’s Ottawa sneak peek of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom was preceded by a solemn moment of
silence. It was ironic bit of timing to see a biopic of an incomparable man on
the day of his death. However, it also seemed wholly fitting to let the show go
on, as those attending Mandela: Long Walk
to Freedom had a fine opportunity to learn about and reflect upon the
legacy of former South African President Nelson Mandela. One suspects that Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom might have
yielded an altogether different film experience had it screened on Wednesday,
but this dramatization of Mandela’s life offers a fine and fitting tribute to
one of the greatest and most revolutionary men to ever walk this earth.
It seems pointless to criticize the pace of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom or the inevitable sense of bloat that occurs when a film encompasses several decades in the life of one man. What Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom does well seems to be all that matters after seeing it last night: the film captures Mandela’s humanist philosophy and kind spirit. British actor Idris Elba (Pacific Rim, HBO’s “The Wire”) gives a performance of dignity and grace as Mandela, playing the leader from his early years as a lawyer to the years of his retirement.
It’s a tough act to portray such a well-known and revered
subject, especially since viewers will doubtlessly approach Mandela with twice as much reverence for
its subject as they might have last week. It’s doubly difficult, too, when
Mandela was recently portrayed in a spot-on performance by the great Morgan
Freeman in 2009’s Invictus. Those are
some big shoes to fill for any actor, but Elba rises to the challenge and gives
a performance that honours its real-life counterpart and offers a fine dramatic
interpretation in its own right. Elba has the voice and careful diction of
Mandela down pat, just as well as he does the man’s composure and comportment.
If Elba gives a fine performance as Nelson Mandela, then
audiences are doubly treated by the fiery supporting turn by Naomie Harris (Skyfall) as Mandela’s ex-wife, Winnie.
Harris, too, holds her own in comparison to Jennifer Hudson’s take on the
former Mrs. Mandela in the somewhat unfairly maligned Winnie. Winnie Mandela is a bit more fleshed out in this biographical
rendering of the Mandelas’ life, though, and audiences are afforded a bit more
room to judge Winnie’s madness and criminality in some of the film’s fine
juxtapositions that draw out Nelson Mandela’s logical spirit, which was
essential to finding peace and ending the institutionalized racism of apartheid.
Mandela: Long Walk to
Freedom sees Winnie evolve from hot-blooded activist to violent radical
during the years of Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment. Like Winnie, Mandela: Long Walk to
Freedom covers Winnie Mandela’s own time spent in prison while her husband
remained behind bars on Robben Island. Unlike her husband, though, Winnie is
placed in solitary confinement, which might explain the frazzled madness within
Harris’s spectacular performance when Winnie emerges from the shadows of her
cell after sixteen months.
What Mandela: Long
Walk to Freedom does with the two disparate character arcs of the Mandelas,
though, is show how two people can adopt radically different perspectives and worldviews.
While Winnie takes to arms and violence, countering the whites with wrath and
hatred, Nelson adopts a philosophy of peace and forgiveness. The film conveys
Mandela’s philosophy that the higher road was often the hardest one to take.
One especially striking scene, for example, sees Mandela reproach his
grandchildren for taunting two of the prison guards simply because they’re
white. “That’s what they do to us,” Mandela instructs his descendants, “and if
we treat them as they do us, then we’re no better than they are.” While Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom glosses
over much of the context and subtext for the years dramatized onscreen, the
film captures the lesson that a good leader must understand the underlying conflict
and educate his progeny to learn from their anger, rather than simply react to
anger with more anger.
The script by William Nicholson (Les Misérables) covers considerable terrain in the days of a
ninety-five year old man who saw many milestones in his lifetime. This overview
of Mandela’s early beginnings and the continuation of his fight from within the
prison walls also offers enough unflattering depictions of the man (re: his
womanizing) to avoid premature canonization. Some more context regarding the
violence that saw blacks killing blacks amidst the apartheid struggle might
have been appreciated, though, as Long
Walk to Freedom doesn’t always explain the broader scope of the situation
as well as it does some of the more intimate workings of Mandela’s personal life.
His troubled marriage to Winnie receives far more screentime than his years in
Presidential office do, but the film smartly uses the relationship between
Nelson and Winnie to underscore the point that love comes naturally, yet one is
taught to hate.
While the performances by Elba and Harris ensure that this
biopic is a worthy dramatization, Mandela:
Long Walk to Freedom might not be as strong an entry into Mandela moviedom
as 2009’s Invictus. If Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom covers too
much terrain, the film by Clint Eastwood manages to draw out the same spirit
and philosophy of Mandela’s leadership by zeroing in on his handling of the
1995 Rugby World Cup to unite South Africa in a symbolic victory. Side by side,
though, Invictus and Long Walk to Freedom are both necessary
viewings to enlighten audiences on the legacy of a man without equal. The final
scene of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
will leave viewers touched by Mandela’s life and story as a beautiful aerial
shot by DP Lol Crawley captures Mandela walking through the tall grass and climbing
a hill in the soft light of the sunset as Elba explains in voiceover how one
can best serve the world with love. It’s finale that eerily anticipates the
legacy Mandela left behind.
Rating: ★★★½ (out of ★★★★★)
Rating: ★★★½ (out of ★★★★★)
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom opens in Ottawa at The ByTowne Dec.
26.
