Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Justin Chadwick’s ambitious biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom has been getting mixed reviews from critics, partly due to a rushed début at TIFF in September. However, the one constant seems to be a towering performance by Idris Elba.  It’s been a good year for Elba. The English actor had feature roles in two of this year’s biggest action blockbusters, Pacific Rim and Thor: The Dark World. In Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, the actor takes on his biggest role to date: Portraying the late anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela.

Based on Mandela’s autobiography and a script by William Nicholson, Long Walk follows the iconic leader from his childhood in a rural village, to his education, to his 27 year imprisonment before becoming the first democratically elected president of South Africa.

Due to the recent passing of Nelson Mandela, the film was pulled from South African theatres for a day after his death out of respect.  Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is rated 14A.