Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

 

Some people’s lives are so incredible that they deserve to have movies written about them. Nelson Mandela is one of those people. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom follows his life story from child to inmate to president, and along the way shows us what it really means to see an ideal through to fruition.

 

Born in a rural village in South Africa, Nelson Mandela (played by Idris Elba) grew up poor during the apartheid. Based upon Mandela’s 1994 autobiography of the same name, the film focuses on his time as an activist fighting the apartheid and the resulting 27-year prison sentence he was forced to serve. Mandela was an extraordinary and oft-controversial figure whose influence extended far beyond the prison walls he spent half of his life inside. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom explores the unbreakable spirit of a man dedicated to an ideal, as well as the great deeds that hard work and determination can accomplish.

 

Written by William Nicholson and directed by Justin Chadwick, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom will be released into theaters on November 29, 2013. This Weinstein Company drama also stars Naomie Harris, Tony Kgoroge, Riaad Moosa, Zolani Mkiva, Jamie Bartlett, Lindiwe Matshikiza, Deon Lotz, and Terry Pheto.

 

Winnie

As co-crusaders in the struggle against apartheid, Nelson Mandela and his wife Winnie changed the course of history in South Africa. Winnie, the film adaptation of Anne Marie Du Preez Bezrob’s biography, “Winnie Mandela: A Life,” is a drama that follows the life of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (Jennifer Hudson) from her childhood to her adulthood.

A complicated figure in South African history, Winnie’s life began with a strict rural upbringing by a father who was disappointed that she was a daughter instead of a son. Although she had the opportunity to go to Boston to study, Winnie chose to decline the scholarship and remain at home to become her country’s first black social worker. After meeting and marrying Nelson Mandela (Terrence Howard), Winnie faced a slew of hardships. Her husband was jailed, eventually spending 27 years in prison. Her decision to carry on her imprisoned husband’s activist campaign resulted in her being harassed by the security police almost continuously and banished to a small Free State town. Then, betrayed by friends and allies, Winnie was arrested and spent more than a year in solitary confinement.

After being released from prison Winnie’s difficulties continued. She faced accusations of violence and murder, was convicted of fraud, and saw her marriage to Mandela end in divorce. Winnie tells the story of this strong, very independent woman in broad, black-and-white terms – including the good and the bad.

Directed by Darrell J. Roodt from a screenplay by Roodt, Andre Pieterse and Paul L. Johnson, Winnie also stars Wendy Crewson as Mary Botha and Elias Koteas as Colonel DeVries. Winnie is set for a Canadian release on October 5, 2012 by D Films.