Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

[yogi]

A chronicle of Nelson Mandela's life journey from his childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa.

Saw this tonight and thought it was excellent. A powerful story, well told, with some great performances 8/10

[TheBoySeggy]

I'd say I've seen 2 Oscar nomination performances from Idris Elba & Naomie Harris.

Powerful, moving, a splash of humour. I pity those who have to wait until January to watch it.

8/10

[alythonian]

I was stuck at work but OH said this was excellent and he said the 2 leads were very good. He said strong story but not the media one; all well done and the time went very quickly in a packed Edinburgh.

[M R M R]

I'm still puffy eyed from crying for about 2hrs

Great film, inspirational man.

[newdot]

Much better than I feared.

Idris Elba was very very good, but his bulk made it hard for him to portray the older, frail Mandela. The ageing of his face was great, but that old head was plonked on the body of a strong middle aged man.

The film "looked" fantastic, no idea what the budget was, but certainly looks lavish.

easy 8/10

[akh43]

I agree it was a very good film, I was unsure about Idris Elba playing Mandela, but thought he was very good, as was Naomi Harris. I am sure this will win awards - 8/10 from me also.

Make sure you stay for the credits as lots of pictures of the real Mandela from his early years, I had only seen pictures of the old Mandela until now.

A bonus this was my 100th film for the year

[stuartboy]

Stunning and epic!
Beautifully shot and likely on location.
Loved the way that Idris Elbow seemed to morph into the Mandela that we know. I did wonder about the large heavily built muscular young Idris would manage to resemble the frail older 70+ year old but it was convincing. I loved the shots of the statesman Mandela wandering into the townships in his trademark patterned shirt. I have a lasting memory of actually walking past the great man in the 90s. He was walking along Princes Street in Edinburgh of all places and he was dressed exactly like that. He had no (visible) security and just strolled past me. He was in town for some political summit or other that week.

How funny that we also get The Butler in the same month - another story that chronicles the life of a black guy from young to old age, and one that also chronicles major events in history, albeit on different continents - Civil Rights vs. Apartheid.

Brilliant acting, fantastic scenery, perhaps slightly contrived with Cape Town's Table Mountain in every shot and view of Robben Island and Cape Town, but hey - it deserves it.

Oscar Elbow (Freudian slip?) walks away with this.

Highly recommend. 2 1/2 hours just fly by.

Strangely enough I arrived at Edinburgh Omni tonight at about 6.10 only to be told by SKYgirl that there was only one seat left and that I might have to hunt for it. I could hear people arriving behind me. Once in cinema I had a choice of well over 20 seats including many together. No idea how she determined it was full from the far end of the corridor. Some poor people will have been disappointed unnecessarily.

Esay 9/10

[Beate]

We were lucky enough to get there early and get our favourite balcony seats. It's always fun to watch unsuspecting people wander in and go "Oh!" - plus one teenager exclaiming "This is sick!" Which I translated to "this is jolly fabulous!"

The film - I was in tears. Very powerful and I didn't recognize Idris Elba at first - and that accent! It's a long film but honestly, time flew. Very good though I cried a bit more at Invictus I have to admit. There was even some gentle humour. The only thing is that even 2 1/2 hours can't do justice to 50 years of someone's life - a lot could have been expanded upon but then we'd still be in the cinema.

8.5/10

To the idiots who checked twitter during the film - you're losers. And to those people arriving at 7.40pm making an usher hunt for seats for them - wtf?

[Ms Thrifty]

Encouraging to see that reviews here are much more enthusiastic than on IMDB, which deterred me. Maybe the rating there will now start to rise? More OH's sort of film than mine so would have gone to see it for him, but we agreed to wait - and no, TheBoySeggy, we don't mind doing so - if it's that good, it'll be worth it.

[TheBoySeggy]

To the idiots who checked twitter during the film - you're losers. And to those people arriving at 7.40pm making an usher hunt for seats for them - wtf?

Firstly the ushers shouldn't let them in that late, and if they are to be allowed in, they should be directed to the first available seat - front row if needed.

You want better seats, turn up before the film starts.