Critic Reviews

Ultimately, Winnie is a woman who seems to embody the paradoxes of her country's turbulent history.

A serviceable if sometimes overwrought biography, with solid performances and the courage to spotlight not only the heroics but the appalling misdeeds committed by the iconic Ms. Mandela.

Winnie begins as hagiography and ends in hellish confusion.

A story that probably could have been told better as a miniseries, the film's main strength is its performances.

Winnie Mandela is a simplistic look at a complex figure.

Despite the marquee names and their obvious talent, the film feels like a made-for-TV movie. It’s slight and episodic, with a weirdly scrupulous ambivalence about its subject, whom it seems torn between loving and loathing.

The source material is Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob's biography, and the period detail is spot on. Yet Winnie: the movie opts to wear its heart openly on its sleeve, and play it absurdly safe.

Solid performances are undercut by lack of storytelling integrity in this plodding biopic.

This twist doesn’t so much probe the situation’s ambiguities as reflect the filmmaker’s uncertainty about how to properly portray a major historical figure in all her troubling complexity.

Decently acted despite screenplay shortcomings.