Winnie

Winnie Mandela (Jennifer Hudson) is the sixth daughter to a disappointed father hoping for a son. She tries to prove her worth chaffing at the paternalistic culture. Her father is the son of the chief and a ground breaking teacher. She studies to be a social worker and excels. She is fascinated by Nelson Mandela (Terrence Howard) and catches his eye. They are soon married but they are always hounded by the cruel De Vries (Elias Koteas). Mary Botha (Wendy Crewson) hires her despite the troubles and becomes her supporter.

This is such a bland uninteresting biopic. With such an amazing complicated subject, this has no intensity. It has no life. The story has been simplified into a paint-by-number biopic. It's as if it's boiled down to highlights of a compelling life. It uses way too many montages. Terrence Howard is especially hamstrung by the script while Jennifer Hudson takes a backward step with her performance. Elias Koteas is a great actor but the movie appears to suggest that all of Mandela's problems stem from an over-zealous persecutor. Winnie is one of the most compelling characters in our modern history and this treats it all like a melodrama. I'm left a little uncertain about Hudson's skills after this. However I put most of it down to a bad script.

This biopic about the first wife of iconic and legendary South African statesman and apartheid adversary Nelson Mandela, stars Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) as the title character who was raised in a strict, rural upbringing with a schoolteacher father who was disappointed with the fact that she was his sixth daughter. Winnie worked hard to win his approval and when she was of age she moved to the city to pursue medical school -- which was unusual in a sexist, apartheid South Africa. It was here that she met (and almost reluctantly) fell in love with the young political revolutionary Mandela (Terrence Howard - Hustle & Flow) who was already an "enemy" of the white government for believing in equality.

The film is rather shaky in that it doesn't really appear to know how it wants to portray Winnie and while an Oscar-winner (in a good performance with one STELLAR, knockout scene), Hudson does appear to have a limited acting range. After Nelson is arrested and incarcerated, Winnie also faces some horrible and unjust, inhumane abuses at the hands of the South African government. Once she is freed she attempts to carry his mantle but does so with some very questionable actions that have today tainted her legacy.

The film perhaps wants to be overly honest but in doing so Winnie doesn't come across as a winning figure for such a biopic. She is quite polarizing and the "hero tone" the film presents is rather conflicting. This could possibly all be intentional on the filmmaker's part.

Different time ... different place. She was strong and she was not broken and she did NOT give up. Like her or not -- she was no Nelson -- but I wish this movie had been better.

I am presently watching this movie at the moment. I must say I am extremely surprised at the flawed costuming of this project. This is a movie chronicling the life of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, a woman who was born in 1936. Yet from the very start of the movie(which starts at her birth), you notice immediately that they lost it on the costumes they used as they do not depict the kind and quality of clothing worn in a 1936 South African village. For one the clothing used are really really bright and very 2011 fashionable. Regarding the styling, you can clearly tell that they probably could not produce them that way back then. They also look too bright and flashy much like modern apparel. In certain scenes you see that the ties worn by the guards or police officers looking really modern day and therefore really makes you struggle to believe the events were actually occurring when the acting tells you they were. Talk about the wedding dress used in Winnie's wedding, it just looks out of place time-wise. So even though the acting is good, I feel that the strength of the acting was much suppressed by this flaw. It really would have been better if they had down toned the colors a bit but unfortunately they did not.

"She spent nearly 500 days in prison, 400 of them alone in solitary. She was exiled, they harassed her, they nearly killed her. Her contribution to the struggle is beyond calculation." This movie follows the life of Winnie (Hudson) from birth to her life with husband Nelson Mandela (Howard) and beyond. It shows her transformation from shy student to activist. I hate to admit it but I knew next to nothing about this woman before I started the movie. For that reason going in my first thought was, why make a movie about her when Nelson is much more interesting. After watching this my thoughts changed to why don't they make more movies about her. I'm not sure how accurate this movie is but I found it to be very interesting and really made me feel for her. Seeing a woman who was shy and had her life ahead of her end up being broken by seeing the way her life was affected by her husbands sentence gives you conflicting emotions. On one hand you want her to do the things she is doing while at the same time you know she should stop. The end of the movie is so bittersweet that it's hard to feel happy about what happened. The only really bad thing I have to say about this is that it really had the feel of a Lifetime movie. Overall, my feelings went from why a movie about her to why aren't there more movies about her. I highly recommend this. I give it an A-.

Upon entering the theater I knew that I was coming to see a 2 hour movie which in no way, shape or form could capture every epic detail and nuance (historical and personal) over a 50 year period of Winnie Mandela's life story. What amazes me is the amount of negative criticism and unrealistic expectations that this film has received. Those types of lofty goals could only be accomplished in an 8 part miniseries not a 2 hour film.

Keeping an open mind, I sat down not knowing what to expect. What I received was the privilege of witnessing a captivating film with outstanding performances. Ms. Hudson pleasantly surprises with her depth of character as Winnie Mandela (not the smirks, attitude and singing which won her an Oscar in Dreamgirls)... she was able to go there. Furthermore, I appreciate the fact that the film does not attempt to "sugarcoat" Winnie's journey. Mr. Howard was a brilliant choice to portray Nelson Mandela... he possessed both the strength and elegance of the icon. Supporting cast performances were also excellent.

As the credits rolled the audience sat quietly almost as if glued to their seats. After the final credit rolled my experience was summed up by a fellow audience member who stood, stretched and said... WOW! I walked away from that theater in astonishment... they actually pulled it off! I see Oscar nods for both Howard and Hudson and possibly Mr. Koteas. The only thing working against this film and possible nominations is that it is not part of the "Hollywood Machine" which force feeds movies, reviews and awards. I truly hope that this lovely film does not fall victim to the "Hollywood Monster" lurking over it. Disregard the reviews... go see this movie, you'll be pleasantly surprised!