WINNIE (Pascale Lamche, France/Netherlands/South Africa). 98 minutes. Rating: NN
South African political icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, one of the most fascinating and complex figures in recent history, gets a standard biography treatment in French director Pascale Lamche‘s disappointing doc.
The film provides a comprehensive overview of the anti-Apartheid activist’s life, recounted chronologically through a mix of archival footage, photos and interviews with Madikizela-Mandela, her children, her biographer and the former head of South Africa’s intelligence service, among others.
These voices contextualize her early years, rise to global prominence while her late husband, Nelson Mandela, was jailed, the political forces that marshalled against her and the murder and kidnapping charges that cast a shadow over her legacy.
What’s missing is a fresh perspective, new information, raw emotion or style that could make this doc feel like something more than a history class homework assignment.
Apr 29, 6:30 pm, TIFF 2 Apr 30, 11 am, TIFF 2 May 4, 6:30 pm, Isabel Bader
