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Fun Stuff => ENJOY => Topic started by: TheEvilDog on 11 Jan 2014, 19:59
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Saw it today. It's a powerful film, also incredibly hard to watch at times, which it should be! It's a fitting testament to Nelson Mandela, but also a film that wasn't afraid to sure that in his younger days, he did choose to do some incredibly violent acts. But again, parts of it were very difficult to watch, especially the violence of the mid-80s.
The film starts a short time before Mandela's first marriage in Johannesburg in the early 1940s and covers the main events of his life up until the 94 election.
It's a hard hitting film, but of course, it has to be, Mandela's life was a struggle. The only gripe I had with the film was that the crew didn't quite seem to know when to end the film as within the last 15 minutes or so where there were a number of fitting points, but it just kind of lumbered on and almost felt as though it was about to run out of steam. But other than that, it was a film I'd suggest people go see, especially for Idris Elba's performance, for very much capturing the complexity of Nelson Mandela.
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I'm going to see this tonight - I was dithering as it's very long and I don't know the people I'm going with very well, but it sounds like it's worth seeing. I'll let you know what I think. I know almost nothing about Nelson Mandela, only what the BBC reported after his death.
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Wow, that was one of the best films I've ever seen. I agree that it is difficult to watch in parts, especially if like me you didn't know very much about the apartheid struggle (I was only a very small child when it ended and UK schools don't teach history that doesn't involve THE GLORIOUS BRITISH EMPIRE BEING GLORIOUS, or at least mine didn't), but it is incredibly clear considering the vast time span it has to cover. It actually starts with Mandela as a small child but he grows to adulthood in the first three minutes or so.
I don't agree about the ending, I think it was perfect. It included all the important events from a political perspective, and then shows him going home. I especially appreciated the fact that they included genuine photos of Mandela at the end, and some real footage of the violence was neatly intergrated at times which reminded you that it was real.
I can see this being one of the films that I want to get a copy of and watch again - Lincoln is another.
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I see trailers for films like this and I instantly think 'Oscar bait' and it turns me off. Same as 12 years a slave. It's reactionary and pathetic really, but when a film properly aims for 'gravitas' it just destroys my interest.
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Perhaps you should watch it before forming a judgement like that.
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Probably, yeah.
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How can they make a film about Nelson Mandela without Morgan Freeman?