Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – movie review

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is British-South African movie about South

African activist and first black president Nelson Mandela based on his autobiography.
It was directed by Justin Chadwick from a script written by William Nicholson starring
Idris Elba and Naomie Harris. The film premiered on 28 th November 2013. It was
created to show the unfair and though life of African people during the apartheid,
racism period. The purpose of the movie was to show how much they have suffered
because of the racism and to show the world how cruel people can be to each other.
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom tells us a story of a South African politician
and activist Nelson Mandela. At his young age, he was working as a lawyer. When
his wife left him because of his activism and fighting for black peoples’ civil rights, he
met Winnie and married her. But Nelson was imprisoned because of bombing
several national buildings. I was really impressed how Nelson was fighting for civils
rights even in prison. He made a complaint to the colonel of the prison and made
sure his inmates get long trousers. After long 28 years on his imprisonment, Nelson
was finally free. I really liked the moments of him meeting his wife and kids after so
many years of separation. The moments that really crushed me were when Nelson
received a letter about his son death in prison and when he told his wife he wants a
separation. I was really disappointed to see that their marriage hasn’t worked out
because of their long separation and activism that has been tearing their relationship
apart. My favorite part of the movie was the last scene when Nelson stood proudly in
front of the African people that have elected him for president. He was shining with
confidence and pride. I was really happy for him because his life hasn’t been easy.
He was divorced twice, spent half of his life in prison and his son died. This movie
has awaken in me the consciousness about cruelty and injustice that is ruining the
world we live in.
This movie has awaken many emotions in me: from happiness and pride to
anger, pity, empathy and disappointment in today’s world. This movie has a big
message to people all around the world. By telling Nelson’s life story, it gives us an
opportunity to experience the world of South African apartheid period and to clear our
eyes and see that our world isn’t perfect: it is full of inequality and unfairness and has
to be fixed by our open-mindedness and respect to people different from us. All in all,
I was impressed and astonished by this movie’s purity and honesty and I would
recommend it to everyone, especially to people who are blinded by all the bad things
that are happening today.
Marin Mijić 2.e