‘Troublemaker’ Review: Antoine Fuqua’s Rushed Nelson Mandela Documentary Is Elevated by Evocative Animation

['Daniel Fienberg', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Vertical-Align Middle .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar Is .Alignleft .Alignright'] The Hollywood Reporter 2026-01-28 18:55:59

Judd Apatow has new documentaries on Mel Brooks, at four hours, and Maria Bamford at 115 minutes, which seems longevity-based. Derek Jeter got a five-episode docuseries, while Yogi Berra’s recent documentary was only 98 minutes, which seems recency-based. Using interviews conducted for Mandela’s autobiography as its spine, Troublemaker is pure hagiography. For more than half of its running time, Troublemaker sticks semi-strictly to Mandela’s own perspective, expanding only with the inclusion of television news/archival footage. I just wish Fuqua had tried to make Troublemaker longer than that Milli Vanilli documentary.