This movie is either too long or too short. I'm leaning toward too long. Making Mandela longer would require more skill than the folks making this possess. The work here is good enough, but I would've thought that the story of Nelson Mandela deserved better than that.
The film starts with Mandela's childhood but breezes through that to bring us to Mandela as a young lawyer but breezes through that to bring us to Mandela as a young revolutionary but breezes through that to bring us to Mandela as a domestic terrorist but breezes through that to bring us to Mandela in prison. Then the film settles into that time of his life. Being that he was imprisoned for 27 years, his captivity is still breezed through but it takes longer to gloss over nearly three decades. Then he's released. The End.
That's what I mean by too long or too short. The film gives the impression that it should be a two or three film showcase of the various stages of Nelson Mandela's life. We should have a film showcasing the events that led to his imprisonment, we should have a prison film, and we should have a film of his presidency. Instead, we have a film that tries to cram it all in to 2 ½ hours. And the result of this CliffsNotes version of his life is that there isn't enough time to linger on moments of great drama or emotion.
Despite strong performances by Idris Elba and Naomie Harris, Mandela feels extremely hollow and it's all too often somewhat dull. The film is a huge missed opportunity. It fails mightily to show us the importance of Nelson Mandela and his life. And because of this film, it will be a very long time before anyone makes another attempt at this material. Unless you feel a really strong desire to see this movie, I'd say pass on it. You can read the Nelson Mandela Wikipedia page in less time and learn much more.
5 out of 10
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