A drama that chronicles the life of Winnie Mandela from her childhood through her marriage and her husband's incarceration.

From the look of things, I guess you must have seen this film WINNIE MANDELLA. Watching the film, made me want to review it, because of all the elements provided in making the film come out the way it did.

Winnie Mandela is an epic story of love, sacrifice and courage. Moving from a remote tribal village to the sprawling metropolis of Johannesburg, South Africa, a proud young Winnie played by Academy Award winning Jennifer Hudson, soon found love with a rising political star, Nelson Mandela played by yet another Academy award nominee, Terrence Howard.

In the process of protesting for the brutal apartheid government, Winnie worked tirelessly to win his freedom and to carry on his message of peace and equality. Her struggle to keep the Mandela dream alive was instead rewarded by years of painful persecution and imprisonment, including 18 month of solitary confinement. Yet she won’t stop the race. She fought for a just cause to redeem the image and fight of her husband which earned her the name “The mother of the nation”.

 Directed by Darell Roodt and written by Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob and screenplay by Andre Pieterse.

I have decided to go on with the review of this film basically for some beautiful elements put into consideration. Haven seen several versions of this film, I have come to identify with the story as same but then, this particular piece, broke the ice.

Firstly, I will want to start with the cast and I want to say that it was a perfect cast haven chosen Howard Terrence who has the same facial structure as Mandela. If I didn’t know Mandela I would have sworn he was the one who acted the film before his demise. The cast was so beautiful; the Make up also has its own special touch because it depicted all attributes that stroke the looks of Mandela. Making Terrence and Jennifer both American Actors, speak with the South African intonation made the film a great masterpiece. Costume and property manager, did there very best in giving us all that was needed to portray that time of the day and the period in which the film was set.

The director of the film knows his onion and his directorial skills shows he is a genius to have told the story of another man and told it just as it is.

And then, the camera movement helped in telling the story, thereby portraying the mood of love and pain. It is always said that if you know the rule, you can break it. But here I kept looking out for possible problem in the film and I couldn’t find any except for the village scene when Winnie was little. With the kind of Stick they fought with, I would expect that a hit will bring out a big bruise or spill out blood but I wasn’t too comfortable because that stick was so heavy that a touch can pieces the skull of one. But in the film, that scene showed violence and the fact that it didn’t spill out blood when young Winnie hit her counterpart, could send a bad signal to kids who might have had the opportunity to see the film. Among all, the film was more that a masterpiece. Generally, I’ll give the film a 9/10. Winnies courage and fight for a just cause, made me want to see the film over and over again and it opened my eyes to the fact that the liberation of South Africa, wasn’t gotten by the marvelous speeches of Nelson Mandela but by the strength of Winnie, Mandela’s wife who fought tirelessly until Mandela was freed.  Though I felt very bad when I discovered that Mandela divorced a woman as Winnie because a little mistake she made as a woman. Is a must watch….