“You alone are small.  Your people are mighty.”

There’s no doubt that Nelson Mandela’s life was large enough to put up on the big screen.  But Mandela: The Long Walk To Freedom (based on Mandela’s memoir of the same name) feels more like a Greatest Hits album instead of a solid hit song.  There’s a whole lot to love in this film, with many top-notch performances.  But the story shoots by at light speed, stopping on nothing long enough to truly get an in-depth look at the man.  That said, it gets bonus points for not skipping over the parts of his life that were less than heroic, like his womanizing.  Mandela: The Long Walk To Freedom may not give viewers deeper insight into the man that delivered South Africa from Apartheid, but it is an extensive and fascinating look at his life, and the events that swirled around him.

For those that only know Apartheid as a word in the dictionary, Mandela is an eye-opener.  Director Justin Chadwick (The Other Boleyn Girl, Bleak House) takes the ugly bits of South Africa’s past and puts them up on screen.  There’s some bright, happy times too; black areas of Johannesburg are shown filled with good people, good music and at first the idea of separation seems like nothing more than an inconvenience for Mandela and the rest of black South Africa.  Then the reality kicks in, as a man is mercilessly beaten to death in the street.  His crime?  Being black and a little bit tipsy.  Not bellierent, not loud, not even unkempt.  Just a man that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  (Which was the way it was for any black person in South Africa at that time.)  The scene is shocking and jolts you out of the pleasant earlier scenes, where Mandela the ladykiller tries — and succeeds — in wooing a woman on the dance floor.  Idris Elba (Luther, Thor) is able to shift from charming cad to heartbroken, angry friend, all the while taking you with him in every twist and turn of the world he had to navigate.

From 1942 to the “total enforced segregation” of 1948, Sharpeville 1960 to his imprisonment in 1964, and the talks that brought about the end of Apartheid, Mandela covers it all.  Elba brings an intensity and charisma to the role that may be different from the real man himself, but is arresting nonetheless.  A 40-year-old Elba plays the man throughout his lifetime, which required a ton of prosthetic makeup for the final third of the film.  The same can be said of Naomie Harris (Skyfall), who plays Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.  Winnie’s life as a member of the more militant wing of the ANC is glossed over here, but Mandela is Nelson Mandela’s story, so I can easily forgive that bit of historical editing.  This film doesn’t skip over the distance between Nelson and Winnie that develops due to their changing attitudes, which gives both the feel of real human beings rather than iconic figures.

Chadwick knows he’s got a lot on his plate, and only one film to cram it all in to.  So yes, it’s a life story that seems to blow by at the speed of light, but there are scenes that stay with you long after the film ends, mainly due to Chadwick’s effective use of pacing and editing.  The scene where Mandela sits and discusses the possibility of peace with President De Klerk (Gys de Villiers) cuts back and forth from scenes of Afrikaners slaughtering black South Africans in the street.  It’s an agonizing irony for viewers, and even though we all know that this system ended Chadwick’s deft touch here left me worried for a free South Africa.  Well played, Chadwick.

The thing I would have really loved to have seen was the “how” of it all; how did a man growing old in prison become a catalyst for change in his country?  In Mandela, he’s shown growing tomatoes and talking to a pair of younger militant revolutionaries.  His words are significant, but I would have liked to have seen more on how he kept the ANC together and on the path to peace.  But there are scenes after his release that helped me understand how he brought the people together once he gained his freedom, and those scenes shed a light on the way he worked that most people never got to see.  Mandela: The Long Walk To Freedom shows the man as just that, a man who dared to step into the tide over and over, risking all for the hope of peace.  It’s an impressive bit of film that may not tell you everything about the man, but fleshes out the story of his life, and that of South Africa.  Not a bad trick for a little over two hours.

One last thing; stay to watch the end credits, where you’ll get to see photos from Nelson Mandela’s real life.  They’re inspiring, and they show Chadwick’s attention to historical detail.  Plus, you’ll get to hear U2’s beautiful song “Ordinary Love“, which has already been nominated for Golden Globe & Critic’s Choice awards.