A biopic that leaves a lot out.

   Mandela: Long walk to Freedom
   Starring Idris Elba and Naomie Harris. Directed by Justin Chadwick.



 'Mandela:Long Walk to Freedom' which is based on Nelson Mandela's autobiography
 was released a few weeks after Mandela's death on December 5, 2013. this film is three things.
    First off, it's a love story. Here, Nelson Mandela, a rising young black lawyer in white ruled South Africa, meets a young telegenic social worker called Winnie Madikizela played by Naomie Harris. The two fall in love, get married, go to prison  and then fall out of love.
     Second it's the story of the black South African struggle for freedom against a violent white racist white apartheid regime. In the end the black and brown people succeed but they pay a terrible price. For example, Nelson Mandela played by Idris Elba spent a backbreaking 27 years in prison for his violent acts. Tens of thousands of other anti-apartheid activists were killed in the struggle, or tortured or both.
    Finally, the film shows us the true side of Winnie Madikizela  Mandela who was a genuine heroine. "I piss on you," she shouts at one of her white torturers and she does. She serves a lesser time in prison than her husband. Yet she emerges from behind bars as a true revolutionary while her husband moderates his views   
      This portrayal of Winnie Mandela is long overdue. Too often  in the media she was shown to be a murderer who threw burning rubber tires or 'necklaces' as they were called over other black people. The fact that many of these people were black informants or snitches wasn't mentioned .
     'Mandela' is chockful of mostly white-on-black violence, inspirational speeches by Mandela and tender love scenes between Winnie and Nelson. All of this is interesting and well-acted. But this biopic leaves out one big thing and it's called 'communism'.
     Communist rulers in the 20th century were tyrants. No one can deny this. Yet the now defunct Soviet Union and East Germany, as well as Castro's Cuba and non-communist but socialist  Algeria gave the Mandela-led African National Congress, money advice and weapons  to help  bring down the white dictators of South Africa.  The South African Communist party played a key role in bringing down apartheid too, but none of this is in the film either
     Nor does 'Mandela' deal honestly with the negotiations between nelson Mandela and his white rulers. The white leaders, led by South african president. F.W. de Clerk, played by Gys de Villiers were certainly worried about their fate in a black-ruled South Africa. Yet they also worried about what would happen to the economy.
     After all, the original freedom charter of the African National Congress, called for the nationalization of the the white -owned banks, diamond mines and gold resources. Mandela and the ANC leadership scrapped this idea and some blacks were angry.
     "My husband went into prison a revolutionary," Winnie Madikizela Mandela told Nobel Prize winning author V.S. Naipaul. Yet when he came out of prison, she said, he had changed his politics .
     None of this in the film and I didn't expect it to be. Nelson Mandela emerges in the film as a true hero, angry but forgiving and wise and patient. Yet this film isn't the final word on Nelson Mandela.
      It's a feel-good film for a feel-good conservative era. I enjoyed watching it, but a whole lot was left out of the story.