Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013)

For all its failings, there is one thing about "Long Walk to Freedom" that can't be denied: Idris Elba gives a towering performance, a Mandela for the ages.

It is through Idris Elba's finely etched performance that the real thesis of the film comes to the fore: it is Nelson Mandela's universally relatable core humanity that defines his heroism.

With the magnificent Elba to anchor it, the film gradually achieves a sort of grandeur, in the manner of the hero it depicts.

This nearly two-and-a-half-hour biopic is largely too tasteful and conventional to offer much insight into the remarkable man it wishes to celebrate.

The biggest compliment for "Mandela" (outside of accolades to Elba) is that certain moments within this biopic construct are done well enough that we can see that certain days, weeks of Mandela's life are worthy of a film.

There's never a scene that encapsulates who Mandela was and why he was the driving engine in apartheid's ultimate collapse.

Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom's story and plot are flawed, but are easily overshadowed by the lead performances by Naomie Harris and an Oscar-worthy Idris Elba.