Mandela told the team; “I am an everyman and you should tell my story honestly.”

– Producer Anant Singh TIFF 2013 Press Conference

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom stars an ensemble cast including Naomi Harris (Winnie Mandela), Terry Pheto (Mandela’s first wife, Evelyn), Deon Lotz (The politician who facilitated Mandela’s release) and a massive cast of extras including thousands of South Africans. This indy movie was filmed on location in South Africa. Director Justin Chadwick says he used 35mm film although it was expensive because he wanted to transport the audience into the scenes, to capture the remarkable physical environments, the energy, the crowds and Mandela’s spirit.

The movie is a powerful portrayal of Mandela from his childhood in Transkei, his education, his turbulent marriage to Evelyn, his violence, the confrontations during apartheid, his arrest, Soweto, the terrible poverty, violence, and evil his family and countless black South Africans were subjected to because of Apartheid, the brutality he was subject to, the bitterness that filled Winnie Mandela, the disintegration of their marriage, and finally Mandela as the first democratically elected president of South Africa. Mandela graduated with a degree in Law from the University of Fort Hare and began practicing law. He joined the ANC African National Congress in 1950 and began to organize underground groups and guerilla tactics to battle against apartheid in South Africa. He was arrested and sentenced to life in prison in 1961 for being a terrorist. He spent 28 years in Robben Island Prison doing backbreaking labour, sleeping in quarters that were unfit for humans overseen by extremely cruel Afrikaner guards.

Singh says he got to see Mandela at the end of last year and he took some scenes from the movie on an iPad. He says when Mandela saw some of the scenes he asked if they were of him. He really was not able to tell if Idris was the actor or if it was himself on screen, totally endorsing Idris’s ability to completely capture the role.

myETVmedia Essential TIFF13: What to See Part 2

71st Golden Globe nominee Original Song:

“ORDINARY LOVE” from MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM was written by Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen, Jr., Brian Burton, with lyrics by Bono.

Moira Romano

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