Review of Winnie Mandela (2011) by Alex R — 28 Dec 2013

This is a good biopic on Winnie Mandela, the wife of the late Nelson Mandela. The film takes a look at her life and how she met Nelson, but at the same time, it does leave a bit to be desired because I felt that the film could have been much better than what was delivered before a viewing audience.

Winnie Mandela is a good film worth seeing, but you'll quickly realize that it does fall short of its potential at times. This is a retelling in a romanticized way of her life, and its accuracy can be called into question.

However the performances are engaging and the cast is impressive, despite a few imperfections here and there. Terrence Howard is good in the role of Nelson Mandela; however he is not the best choice to play him.

I found Morgan Freeman and Idris Elba to be far superior choices, and with that being said, Howard does what he can with the material, and he is pretty good, but he is far from memorable as well. The film works well and it does manage to be entertaining from start to finish, but it's obvious that the film's script has its limitations; therefore Winnie Mandela is an average biopic that never goes in depth into its subject, which is a shame because Winnie Mandela and her late husband are fascinating icons.

The film is your typical hollywoodized version of facts, and though good, I wanted more actuality to the story. Nonetheless, Winnie Mandela is a good film, but one that should have been closer to the real life story because, let's face it, it's a fascinating story, one that deserves to be properly told.

With that being said, the definitive film of Winnie Mandela's life has yet to be made, but for now, this is a good film to watch and get to k now the person who stood by Nelson Mandela while he was in prison.