This is an interesting film which shows the complexity of the character of Winnie Mandela. Once Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, Winnie took over the movement, crossing the line and doing things, for better or worse, that Nelson wouldn't dare do. One can debate if her militant stance helped or hurt the liberation of South Africa, but it was after decades of peaceful measures failing that lead to a more radical approach.The film contains the expected grand speeches, self sacrifice, tear jerking moments with appropriate sound track. It leaves criticism of Winnie up to the audience. I felt the acting, which was good, needed to be taken up a notch as it seemed to lack a degree of expected passion. There also seems to be a disconnect between the effect of the movement, world pressure, and the decision to free Mandela and end apartheid which would normally climax a film. Even as the film was about her, these events which she dedicated her life to should have been better presented.Worth viewing.Parental Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.

Basically the movie talks about South Africa which was one of the very last countries to get its independence in Africa .We get to understand how much South Africans suffered during the apartheid regime and what the leaders and other citizens went through before they finally became self ruled, the discrimination of Africans in their own country and not to mention the bloodshed during this times. This is a very touching movie full of sorrows and tears but not forgetting the comic part of it as seen in the early stages. It's very hilarious in its kind, full of romance and a lot of suspense especially in the middle .It is also very emotional, breathtaking and very educative. The movie talks about the life of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (Jennifer Hudson), from her strict rural upbringing by a father disappointed she was not born a boy, to her giving up the chance to study in America in order to remain in South Africa where she felt more needed, through her husband Nelson Mandela's (Terrence Howard) imprisonment. She then faces continuous harassment by the security police, banishment to a small Free State town, betrayal by friends and allies, and more than a year in solitary confinement. Upon her release, she continues her husband's activism against apartheid and, after his release from prison, suffers divorce due to her infidelity and political pressure.The main character is Jennifer Hudson who is referred as Winnie Madikizela Mandela. I find her to be a very strong woman who will always fight for what she thinks is right. She is that woman who will go to that extend without fear of what people will think about her or what people say about her. She fought anyone she considered was a threat to her and what she has been fighting for. She did a very good job as she teaches women to be strong no matter the problems of day to day life and that no one should give up without a fight. She was very courageous and she took up the role very good. The second character is Terence Howard who plays the role of Nelson Mandela .His character was very well portrayed as that fighter who will sacrifice everything he had just for the freedom of his people .Even though he was very strong at the beginning I found him to be so down at the end of the movie since he did not become what everyone expected him to be, he brings out his soft part and that not how we expect those people fighting for us to be…even though his role came out quite well I think I would love to see the strong part of him. Hlomla Dandala also known as Oliver Tambo is the other character in the movie and he plays a role of a good friend to Mandela. He did a very good job since he tried so hard to stand by his friend and he also got himself in a boiling soup fighting against the white regime as he was also got imprisoned .He played his role very well. The most things I liked about the movie was the fact that it made me as a reader understand South Africa much better during the start and at the end of apartheid regime. It all made sure that it targeted both the age groups without discriminating any. I liked when Winnie decided she would continue with the struggle even after the arrest of her husband. I didn't like it when Mandela decided to divorce Winnie as seen in the last scene of the movies as I thought that woman really struggled during his absence and no matter what she did she was supposed to be forgiven since it was not easy for her for Mandela was arrested when she was still very young. I also didn't like it when Winnie decided to take laws in her hands and decided to kill anyone who was against ANC by that time and who could not follow what she wanted as seen in the last third scene of the movie. The movie teaches us that; 1. No matter how hard some things look if you continue to put more effort then you will surely succeed in one way or another. 2. It also shows the strength of a woman by explaining that what a man can do a woman can still do the same thing 3. It also states that you should fight for what you believe in no matter how hard it is to get what you want. 4. we should also not use violence for violence since dialogue is and will always be the way out Anyone can watch this movie since it has targeted all age groups from the young to the old and even the romance part of it does not hinder the children from watching and so I consider it as a family movie.In other hand I think this movie is much of a TV movie and no part of Winnie Mandela biography. According to my views someone biography should be written or said in a way that it becomes history even after that person is long gone as it should make that person be remembered in one way or the other. This movie has represented Winnie's bad side since it criticizes her too much which should not be part of biography.Even though I felt the movie was quite interesting to watch I also feel it could have done much better for its rating is not that good considering its main actors are two very well known people not to mention its producer TD JAKES who is a well known Christian evangelist and the Christian denomination would have loved to see better than what he produced .I will rate the movie at 2/5 since I expected better than this as the title really moved me to want to know what it was all about.

"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-.

I was surprised at the negative tone of other reviews. I thought this was an excellent piece of work --- acting --- production --- accuracy. I wondered whether it was going to glamourize Mandella with an unrealistically positive spin. But no, it does a good job of illustrating the unfortunate turn her life took in the later years of the South African struggle. She ended up as a vindictive,foul mouthed, autocratic drunk. But you understand how that came to be after her long ordeal, which was powerfully portrayed. I also was surprised to find that this was largely a Canadian production. It had none of the pretentious unoriginality that marks so many Canadian films, especially those done for Canadian cable television. It was believable, watchable and informative!