I'm surprised that we're seeing a trailer for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom already, even if it is a teaser trailer. Mind you there's not a great deal in the trailer other than Idris Elba delivering a strong vocal performance as the man himself and carrying it off very well.

The film is written by William Nicholson and directed by Justin Chadwick with Elba playing Mandella and Naomie Harris playing Winnie Mandella. As yet I'm not sure just how factual and hard hitting this might be, but the teaser looks good.

Yes, Idris Elba is playing Nelson Mandella and judging from those two names and the voice I think it promises to be another landmark performance for him and perhaps we'll even be seeing some award recognitions, perhaps even for more than just Elba.

The scope of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is rather large as it traces his life from his childhood right through to being elected as the president of South Africa, now that is one long story, are we going to see everything told or will the film have to skip over even some of the more important parts of his life? It surely can't allow much time for Naomie Harris as Winnie Madikizela-Mandella.

The writer William Nicholson has some strong credits to his name from Martin Luther, Heretic to Sarafina!, from Elizabeth: The Golden Age to Les Misérables, and the director Justin Chadwick has Bleak House and The Other Boleyn Girl to his recent credits.

Pull all those names together and there's a lot of strength in this film already. Now listen to Elba in the trailer and see what you think, or rather hear what you think.

Here's the trailer for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom which comes through TrailerAddict.