Review of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013) by Armand J — 18 Dec 2014

I feel like a 59 is just far too low of a score for a movie like this one. Was it a masterpiece? By no means. It merely skimmed the surface of Mandela's life, and did not exactly show more than what the audience already knew.

However, the 2 main performances alone make up for the lack of information. Whatever Idris Elba lacks in physical similarities to Mandela himself, he completely makes up with his incredible voice work and emotional acting.

Elba was fantastic, but almost as fantastic surprisingly was Naomie Harris. I never knew how great of an actress she was until she completely manifested the emotion, and aura of Winnie Mandela. Overall, it was a pretty good movie.

The performances alone (especially Elba) warrant a viewing from a casual watcher. Definitely worth seeing.