Trying to capture the essence of Nelson Mandela on screen is a tough gig. Just ask Idris Elba. In fact, for American or British actors, trying to do justice to any African leader or public figure can prove to be a surefire way for critics to question your likeness (or lack of it), strange-mannered accent and motives in portraying a continent’s most beloved sons. After Morgan Freeman, Danny Glover and Sidney Poitier, Laurence Fishburne is the next actor in the Madiba hot seat, playing Mandela from his mid-20s all the way up to his later years in a three-part miniseries. It’s part of BET’s black history month offering and sees the channel expand from their usual entertainment brief and reach into scripted drama – a John Singleton series follows later this year and in January they dramatized the New Edition story.
Starting with beautiful pastoral shots of his childhood home and family, who he leaves to attend school, director Kevin Hooks paints a picture of a driven man who felt destined to change his country. Based on two Mandela biographies – Conversations with Myself and Nelson Mandela by Himself – Hooks’s series has to cram in a lot of information. Mandela’s first failed marriage comes and goes in the blink of an eye; his introduction to the ANC is similarly brief and the group’s trial for treason – which dragged on for five years in real life – spans about five minutes. That means that the TV-makers can tick off a lot of boxes, but it does feel frantic at times.
Fishburne’s Mandela is a man of conviction and contradictions. He’s inspired to join in the quest for equality in South Africa after witnessing the brutality of the minority white rule over the mining industry and the subsequent lethal shutdown of protests. But he’s a neglectful husband and parent – seemingly destined to struggle alone after his first marriage breaks down after his arrest for treasons. His accent, something that many have struggled with, is questionable at best and does veer into cringeworthy at worst, especially during the extensive voiceovers. But in the pantheon of Mandelas, Fishburne’s still stands up as a convincing portrayal of the man behind the icon.
Orlando Jones (Oliver Tambo) and David Harewood (Walter Sisulu) play Mandela’s fellow ANC leaders and the ideological battle that wages within the party is given plenty of room. Those arguments – about whether to abandon the party’s nonviolent ideals in the face of brutality from the minority white South African government – are the series’ best moments as Harewood, Jones and Fishburne really get across the desperation of their situation. Hooks’s adaptation also takes viewers on a whistlestop tour of modern South African political history, like the assassination of Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, which triggered an even more oppressive political regime and the creation of the infamous Bureau of State Security AKA Boss.
All that gives context to the actions of Mandela, especially his decision to start a bombing campaign in the mid-60s, which is often overlooked in biopics. The group’s time on Robben Island does slip into well-worn tropes – icy but morally solid guards slowly thawed by a prisoner’s charm, evil hardline guards slowly humiliated and outsmarted by inmates – but it does illustrate Mandela’s famous skills of persuasion. Terry Pheto as Winnie Mandela gets plenty of screentime and her complex evolution from the wife of one of the world’s most famous political prisoners to a political leader in her own right is rendered in deserved detail. Mandela’s eventual release is mixed with real footage from the time, and Hooks manages to make a well-known story feel vital again, as mass protests against the widely criticized and prejudiced policy of a government once again makes headlines. The show’s claim of being the definitive Mandela story is a little over the top, but as an introduction to the man, his country and what motivated him, it’s not a bad place to start.
Madiba airs on BET tonight at 8pm ET; then 8 Feb and 15 Feb at 8pm
