As people in South Africa and abroad continue to grieve for and reflect upon the life of activist and politician Nelson Mandela, this epic film depicting his life and political evolution, which opened in select cities just days before his death, expands nationwide and opens around the globe. A sad coincidence, but also, in a strange way, fortuitous as the film is a strong instrument of instruction and tribute just as many will require or desire one most. An old-fashioned biographical drama which would not have felt out of place in the 1980s or '90s for it is in the structural and stylistic vein of Gandhi and Malcolm X (and I admire both a great deal, so I intend this as a compliment), the film opens with Mandela as a teenager in the countryside in the 1930s and spirits the viewer through his life, from his time as a confident and up-and-coming lawyer through the era in which he became a activist devoted to ending apartheid (through nonviolent methods and otherwise) and the two-and-a-half decades he served in jail to, at last, the historic general election in the spring of 1994.

Earnest, elegant, straightforward, and solid through and through (perhaps slightly square), the film grips the viewer's attention and confronts a number of interesting questions and tensions, including the impact of his many years behind bars on his relationship with his second wife, Winnie, as she also underwent torture and imprisonment and became an infuriated, forward pushing radical as her distant husband's views slowly softened and turned toward negotiation and reconciliation. Idris Elba and Naomie Harris, the only members of the extensive ensemble cast with truly three-dimensional roles, both deliver majestic performances, vanishing into their daunting roles and conveying how and why the Mandela couple became larger-than-life icons while also shining during the quieter moments of aching humanity which lend the film soul to complement and enhance its stately authenticity.

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