It has some important scenes and of course, the life it depicts is one of the most inspirational of our time. However. I found it hard to get too excited with Mandela. It sort of picks and chooses from a long and eventful life, gives us many clichéd scenes and ends up boring us by being too long and throwing in bits of all moments. 
Idris Elba is totally correct as Mandela even though they don’t look much alike. Much better as the older man. Naomie Harris portrays the more interesting and stroppy Winnie though one senses that it comes across as all rather simplified on screen.
None of it is badly done but the film does lack the inspiration of the life.
★★★
passionfilm 