Some people don't know much about Nelson and Winnie Mandela other than the fact that they were the two people the characters Sandra and Elvin Tibideaux named their baby twins after on the long-running sitcom The Cosby Show. But, if you didn't know much about them before, you will get an opportunity to get a view, albeit perhaps a slanted one, of who they are in the upcoming biopic Winnie that comes out next year and features singer/actress and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson and Terrence Howard.
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After the bounce
I have to be honest and say that news of Hudson playing South African activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in Winnie was more traumatizing for me to hear than Tyler Perry translating to film Ntozake Shange's work for his movie For Colored Girls (which I enjoyed, by the way). Don't get me wrong, I like Jennifer Hudson as an actress--moreso as an actress, really, than a singer. But, when I read somewhere that she didn't know much about the Mandelas prior to accepting the role, I cringed. That cringe turned to a mix of WTF and OMG when I read that even Ms. Madikizela-Mandela--the subject of the movie--was not thrilled because they didn't even ask her permission or even contact her prior to making the film.
The film, based on the independent biography Winnie Mandela: A Life by Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob, is not only an unauthorized biopic but could possibly be a rewriting of history if those who its actually about don't have any say in it. Between that news and listening to Terrence Howard butcher a South African accent in the clip below as he plays Nelson Mandela, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. After you push play and watch the trailer, be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments. Will you be checking this movie out or are you as dismayed as I am?
