I’m a self-proclaimed amateur movie buff and if you’re like me you might have raised an eyebrow when you saw that Morgan Freeman was portraying Nelson Mandela in Clint Eastwood‘s new movie “Invictus.” I don’t know, all my life Mandela has been such an iconic figure with a very distinctive South African accent and I feel some kind of way about Freeman trying to emulate him.  Its almost as if he’s mocking him.  I can’t see why in the entire continent that is Africa they couldn’t find a actor that might be more suited.  I’ll leave that for Spike Lee to bring up however.

The film “Winnie,” which will be directed by veteran South African filmmaker Darrell J. Roodt who directed “Sarafina” is based on the Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob biography “Winnie Mandela: A Life.“ The Oscar-Winning actress says she is very excited to be playing such a historic figure.  

“I was compelled and moved when I read the script. Winnie Mandela is a complex and extraordinary woman and I’m honoured to be the actress asked to portray her. This is a powerful part of history that should be told.”

The film will begin shooting on location May 30th in Johannesburg, Capt Town, Transkei and Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison.  The film will focus on Winnie’s role as a the wife and supporter of her imposed husband and who was jailed herself for campaigning for his release and fighting against apartheid.

While I think Jennifer Hudson is an AMAZING actress especially without much formal training I do however question her casting as I did with Freeman.  Here you have a South African director and he can’t find one single actress on the vast continent of Africa to portray Winnie Mandela?  I think when shooting for a bioflick its so important to get the details right.  In Notorious it was important for Gravy to be an experienced rapper to get the inflections down. 

On the other hand Jill Scott challenged such criticism with her excellent job on HBO’s The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency where she portrays Mama Precious Ramotswe an entrepreneurial minded detective from Botswana in the mini-series based on the novels of British author Alexander McCall Smith.  However Jill set the bar very high for Hudson.  We’ll have to see.  I’ll also reserve further judgment on Freeman whose an accomplished actor until I see the film.