AP- Jennifer Hudson
Fresh off of having a baby, Jennifer Hudson is set to return to the silver screen as Winnie Mandela in the film, Winnie. The role promises to be a meaty one. Everyone knows Nelson Mandela’s story. He was and is the tireless South African civil rights leader who was jailed for 27 years, released and became President of the nation that imprisoned him. His wife’s story is less well known.
Winnie Mandela met Nelson Mandela in 1956 and married him in 1958. He was jailed in 1962. During that time Winnie was constantly harassed by the South African government and was denied social privileges such as unrestricted travel and freedom of speech. Throughout her life there were skirmishes with the law. She was jailed for 17 months in 1969 and lived in exile for 8 years. She was known by many as the mother of the apartheid movement. However, her views were slowly becoming more extreme. The most controversial moment in Winnie’s life came in 1988 when her bodyguard was accused of torturing and killing a 14 year old, Stompie Sipei, for spying. Winnie Mandela was said to have given the ok for the hit. She was convicted but never jailed because her sentence was reduced to fine.
In 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from jail. He later became President of South Africa and Winnie was elected President of the African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League . In 1994, Winnie was elected to Parliament. She was expelled a year later by her husband. He divorced her shortly afterwards mostly due to her extremist views.
Hudson has not had a role this meaty since her Oscar winning turn in Dreamgirls. Expectations are high since she is playing such a controversial figure and it is likely that Hudson will live up to those expectations. The only deterrent is her age.
Currently, Morgan Freeman is portraying Nelson Mandela in Clint Eastwood’s Invictus. It will be interesting to see if Freeman will be cast as Nelson Mandela in this biopic also. He’s old enough to be Hudson’s grandfather and seeing them together as husband and wife would be a bit jarring. Either way this film promises to be a must-see.
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