There are two sides to every story and the film Winnie Mandela gives all the details of a relationship that started out as a Cinderella story and ends up empty. The film has been released on DVD and Blu-ray and shows a stark contrast to another film that involves her life called Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. While the two bring out the struggle behind their lifelong goal, this film gets more into the nitty-gritty of Winnie and her spiraling down to a nightmare life of separation and out of control ideals.
Taking a microscope’s view of one of the most prominent names in the fight against Apartheid this biographical feature has all the trappings of an interesting story that reaches for an embrace from those who have suffered prejudice. Absorbing, brief and up in your face reality reveals more than most know about the woman who became obsessed with her husband’s quest for freedom and equality.
Winnie was the last of six girls born to Columbus Madikizela (Professor Mavuso) in a small African tribal home where her father was a school teacher. Her tomboy attitude came from her father wanting the boy he never had and she found herself being aggressive, even participating in tribal stick fights. The young woman grew fast and learned well becoming an advocate for child welfare. She was offered the position of social worker at a hospital which Winnie (Jennifer Hudson) gladly took and dived into her new profession with eagerness unfounded in those days.
South Africa was oppressed buy its European populace and required all Africans to carry a pass book in order to walk the streets to shop, work and any other everyday chore. One day Winnie passes by a city square where she sees Nelson Mandela (Terrence Howard) giving a speech on equality in life, jobs and property ownership, things not allowed to South Africans. Her interest piqued, she stays for the whole address catching the eye of the much older freedom advocate. Sometime later he sees Winnie at a bus stop and acknowledges her. After a chance meeting at a restaurant where she is dining with a friend, Nelson offers to take her to lunch. Thus starts a romance and marriage that helps to change the face of history for South Africa.
The biography goes on to show her support for Nelson following his incarceration for conspiracy to overthrow the government and sabotage. While Nelson serves his life term Winnie takes up the mission to bring equality to South Africa, but instead of a calm approach she turns to a position of power to the people urging them to rise up against Apartheid even with violence. She gets arrested and thrown into jail for terrorism where she serves over a year in solitary confinement. Director and writer Darrell Roodt (Sarafina) keeps the intrigue at a high level as he plays out the story taking his audience deep into the soul of Winnie.
His choice of Jennifer Hudson as Winnie Mandela the rebel who would not stand down while being persecuted by police Major DeVries (Elias Koteas) is brilliant. Her ability to show the magnitude of Winnie’s will to bring freedom to her people is testimony to her acting prowess. Showing the slow personal degrading, aging and disposition changes of her character, Hudson clearly embodies the trials of the woman who would not let go of her beliefs. As Winnie starts a downward spiral initiated by absence from her incarcerated husband, alcohol abuse, an affair and the power craze from her leadership in the Mandela Football Club we see the effects on her long fight eroding her away.
Her co-star Terrence Howard does a very good job of bringing Nelson Mandela to life on the big screen. His strong will shows big as this giant who fought for the rights of his people to be equal to any man in his beloved country. His finest moment comes with a speech in front of his accusers at his trial that gives meaning to Mandela’s quest for the end of Apartheid in South Africa. His later expression to his wife Winnie that he would rather die than appeal his case showed his devotion to the cause.
The downside to the film is the over indulgence, although warranted, to the high profile life of Nelson that overshadows the biography of Winnie. Even though I found Winnie’s life to be interesting and often chaotic, my focus often gravitated to that of Nelson’s plight. While the presentation is well done, Winnie’s life becomes more a bump in the road of the freedom fighter’s long life as a revolutionary.
Makeup artists do a terrific job of aging and showing the effects of the punishment the characters have to deal with in the film. As the months pass by in the dank solitary cell used to break Winnie’s will, Hudson’s body becomes a drab pallet for makeup gurus to show the effects of her incarceration in a hell hole for over a year. Even Howard gets attention from the artists showing the wear on his life from the 27 years in a prison cell.
While we see Winnie in a broader light in this film most of her failings are hidden in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. Sometimes sugar coated her spiral down life in Long Walk to Freedom gets left out avoiding Winnie’s alcohol abuse and even an accusation of murder in that presentation. Walk to Freedom accepts little of Winnie’s fight for equal rights and the hard life she had in Nelson’s absence.
Winnie Mandela has been rated R by the MPAA for some violence and language. Some of the movie includes actual photos and film from newsreels of the Sharpville massacre and other key moments in the Mandela movement. At the end of the film while Jennifer Hudson sings “Bleed For Love” during the credits we see actual snapshots of the progression of the real Winnie Mandela from her marriage to today. Be cautious when deciding to allow immature children see the Video as it does have some scenes that are very inappropriate for adolescents.
The special bonus feature on the DVD is the making of Winnie Mandela. I found it to be excellent in that opinions are expressed by crew and cast. It gives more of the historical background and interviews with both Jennifer Hudson and Terrance Howard.
Specifications and additional film information:
Cast: Jennifer Hudson, Terrence Howard, Elias Koteas
Director: Darrell Roodt
Written by: Andre Pieterse, Darrell Roodt
Genre: Biography, Drama
MPAA Rating: R for some violence and language
Running Time: 1 hr 47 min
Theatrical Release Date: September 6, 2013
Video Release Date: December 3, 2013
Language: English
Reviewed Format: DVD
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: Letterbox 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Number of Discs: 1 Disc
Distributed by: RLJ Entertainment (Image Entertainment)
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
