In many ways “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” feels as though it is highly exaggerated documentary about the life of Nelson Mandela. The film is not completely devoid of emotion or perspective, but it is difficult for viewers to extrapolate feelings that did not already have about the icon prior to the movie.
Director Justin Chadwick’s (“The Other Boleyn Girl”) approach to the film is rather formulaic and at boring times. The film runs shy of two and a half hours and given the slow pacing, a quarter of the film could have easily been cut without affecting the story. Chadwick has a hard time focusing on right moments and allocating time efficiently.
The key difficulty comes from Chadwick trying to fit the entire Mandela story in one film. Although there is nothing inherently wrong with such an endeavor, Chadwick does not pull it off and at the end it feels a bit rushed.
To be fair, many of the main actors do an amazing job. Idris Elba (“Thor: The Dark World”) and Naomie Harris (“Skyfall”), who portray Nelson and Winnie Mandela respectively, do phenomenal work. They pull off their dialogue fantastically and are by far one of the more enjoyable parts of the film. Gys de Villiers (“Vehicle 19”) also does a great performance portraying President De Klerk with his brief time on the screen.
The actors depicting Mandela’s colleagues and cellmates are extremely interesting. One of the greatest travesties of this film is that is does not delve deeper into the lives of those around Mandela. Mandela had many friends along the way, which propelled him to success throughout his life. By ignoring their stories, the audience is deprived of a deeper understanding of the anti-apartheid movement and the life of South Africa’s first black president.
One thing that is notable about the film is that it does not sugarcoat Mandela’s history. In his early years, Mandela was known as a womanizer and his personal life had not been a fairy tale either, which Chadwick made sure to make this absolutely clear in the movie. Unfortunately, only the strained relationship between Nelson and Winnie Mandela is really shown. His other struggles with his children are rarely touched upon.
Arguably the most transformative time in Mandela’s life was in prison. Chadwick uses some time to depict Mandela’s time in prison to be sure, but many years are skipped. The transformation is hard to grasp. One moment Mandela is sent to prison for violent acts and the next he is released and seeks peace. What happened in between? “Long Walk to Freedom” could have invested a lot more time into the prison era since the events after Mandela’s release up until his recent death are well documented and already known for most viewers.
“Long Walk to Freedom” is a good movie. However, viewers are going to be hard-pressed to learn or feel anything that did not already know before. At times, the movie can be quite boring given its documentary-like feel.
