Winnie and Nelson Mandela were key figures in the struggle in South Africa to abolish apartheid and gain freedom for all races, during the approximate 30+ years in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, which culminated in Nelson Mandela being elected President in the 1994 multiracial elections.
In the more recent movie "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" we see much about Nelson's young life, upbringing, and his imprisonment after being convicted of terrorist activities. In that movie Winnie has an important role, but still secondary.
In this movie, "Winnie Mandela", the emphasis is reversed. We see much of Nelson but the emphasis is on Winnie. Her early work as a nurse, her marriage to Nelson, and her gross mistreatment by the white officials, imprisoned for 16 months on suspicion alone and without a trial, and much of that in solitary confinement. They tried to break her spirit, to renounce the fight for freedom, but she never broke.
When she got out she was hardened, and also influenced by the Sharpeville massacre in 1960 where white police shot and killed many black demonstrators, and many of those were shot in the back as they attempted to flee. So she and her supporters took a very hard line, gradually drifting away from the ideals of nonviolent freedom that Nelson espoused.
There is no question, Winnie Mandela and her children were badly mistreated by the white South African government. And there is no doubt that her fervor played an important role in eventually getting Nelson freed and the government to abolish apartheid. But she was also branded as a criminal, and when Nelson became President it had to be without Winnie at his side.
Very good movie about a complex and influential black woman. Jennifer Hudson is just superb in the title role as Winnie Mandela, and she sings the song played in the closing credits. Also superb is Terrence Howard as Nelson Mandela. Good as the white villain is Elias Koteas as De Vries, the man with dogged determination to break Winnie, but was never able to.
In the more recent movie "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" we see much about Nelson's young life, upbringing, and his imprisonment after being convicted of terrorist activities. In that movie Winnie has an important role, but still secondary.
In this movie, "Winnie Mandela", the emphasis is reversed. We see much of Nelson but the emphasis is on Winnie. Her early work as a nurse, her marriage to Nelson, and her gross mistreatment by the white officials, imprisoned for 16 months on suspicion alone and without a trial, and much of that in solitary confinement. They tried to break her spirit, to renounce the fight for freedom, but she never broke.
When she got out she was hardened, and also influenced by the Sharpeville massacre in 1960 where white police shot and killed many black demonstrators, and many of those were shot in the back as they attempted to flee. So she and her supporters took a very hard line, gradually drifting away from the ideals of nonviolent freedom that Nelson espoused.
There is no question, Winnie Mandela and her children were badly mistreated by the white South African government. And there is no doubt that her fervor played an important role in eventually getting Nelson freed and the government to abolish apartheid. But she was also branded as a criminal, and when Nelson became President it had to be without Winnie at his side.
Very good movie about a complex and influential black woman. Jennifer Hudson is just superb in the title role as Winnie Mandela, and she sings the song played in the closing credits. Also superb is Terrence Howard as Nelson Mandela. Good as the white villain is Elias Koteas as De Vries, the man with dogged determination to break Winnie, but was never able to.