8 Films That Would Have Worked Much Better As TV Shows
4. Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom
The producers of the long-gestating Nelson Mandela biopic have claimed they hoped the adaptation of his autobiography would prove to be the definitive take on his life. No doubt a claim intended to push this films legitimacy ahead of Invictus which was released just as Long Walk moved into production for the sake of the great man's legacy lets hope it isn't. The Idris Elba-fronted film pulls all the typical biopic tricks - rousing score, recurring returning to the focus roots, archive footage of the real man - but in manner that feels like it just wants to give the audience a short cut to an emotional response. You could say thats to be expected with the area, but what Mandela doesnt have that Gandhi has is a focus. Taking a whole life and putting it on screen is a hard task and is best done by selecting moments. Citizen Kane is the touchstone here (where isnt it), dramatising the life of William Randolph Kane with snapshots of a life that, although brief, give us a rounded view of what mattered to him. If something more linearly cohesive is wanted, which is what Long Walk To Freedom attempts, more time is needed. Then theres the activist issue. Without going too far down a path well trodden since Mandelas death, his radicalisation of the ANC is touched on, but only to build up to his time on Robben Island. Theres no moral debate and although switching to the small screen is no way to guarantee this would be looked at, greater scope would allow it to be explored without coming to dominate the story.
