Review of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013) by Andrew W — 02 Aug 2014

More Bio Than Pic.

Mandela - Long Walk to Freedom (2013) directed by Justin Chadwick.

A biopic that was more bio than pic. The great man's life is of course inspiring enough without needing much drama added, but I was again reminded in watching this that real life is much messier than stories. Mandela's story is already more mythologised than understood and this film didn't really do much to add detail beyond the patina of saintliness the great man has. Whilst is showed the horror of apartheid, the Soweto massacre for example, grittily enough, it glossed over some of the more humanising elements of Mandela's story.

Mandela was portrayed as a legend in his own life-time but the terrible misery of those days in prison, the hopelessness and the pain he must have suffered weren't well conveyed. In their place we saw an almost inhumanly serene Mandela, being all Yoda and Buddhist-like, which of course he certainly became in later days, but his low points, his humanity, was lost in this portrayal. The fires of bitter experience which forged his ultimately pragmatic decision to focus on forgiveness and reconciliation and renounce the armed struggle were not well conveyed in this film, which was mostly about adding gloss to an already shiny memorial (it was rushed out within weeks of the announcement of the man's death.).

For my generation Mandela was a mysterious figure, glimpsed via the images on colourful posters of him at his 1960s trial until he quite literally walked to freedom in February 1990. I remember watching it on TV and being aware that this was the pavement of history landing loudly in front of my eyes. The complex machinations around Winnie Mandela and the notorious football team and necklace burnings are covered briefly in this film, but it is so desperate to give a generous and supportive account of the man that again I think opportunities were lost.

In the end it was entertaining and informative about one of the most important and iconic struggles of the 20th century. Mandela did become a legend in his own life-time and he did have such amazing Gandhi-like vision of how to forge a new South Africa from the hatred and violence of apartheid. A true visionary and a perfect example of what a human can accomplish when driven so passionately by their dreams that they embody them everyday, no matter what personal sacrifices they have to suffer. This film though unnecessarily sanitised an already very saintly man, a screenplay with an eye to being a definitive and glossy history rather than a portrayal of the human beneath those smiling, benevolent eyes.

(** Two Stars).