Couldn't really here all that well the Q & As as I was sitting right at the back of the little wannabe VIP area that had been created.Not only was Morgan Freeman there, but so was Chester Williams, whose character is featured in the movie.
And Winnie Madikizela Mandela, her daughter Zinzi, Justice and Constitutional Development Minister - Jeff Radebe and his businesswoman wife - Bridgette, were all there as well.
So about the movie...it was okay.
I think I appreciated that Freeman's depiction of Mandela wasn't all that bad so you actually got to follow the movie and weren't too concerned with how well he could pull a Madiba accent. That was nice. I could say the same about Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar.
Its a story of how Mandela used rugby to kind of unite the nation. I thought it was a nice idea for a story, but...just wasn't all that gripping really. There were some interesting bits of information that they included that I had no clue about - so it gave some insight into our history. But otherwise...at least the other half of the movie was just too rugby for someone who isn't all that interested in it.
That said, I thought they could have used James Small more in the movie. My memory, and it may not be all that good, tells me that James Small was like our answer to Jonah Lomu. Our opponent for him really and he did stop him in his tracks didn't he? I didn't think they used that bit of the World Cup win very well. I think they down played James Small too much.
What else? Thought it odd that they used Zinzi the way they did. It didn't seem to fit well with the rest of the script. And then they threw in a single ...okay maybe two scenes of Winnie happily in love with Mandela.
I suppose they had to use his family in the movie, it couldn't be just about Madiba and rugby...in which case they should have done a better job and had more family moments to make it more realistic.
Anyway...I wouldn't watch this movie again even if I got paid to. I'm not sorry I watched it though.
