Invictus
Invictus is a 2009 biographical drama film based on
events in South Africa before and during the 1995 Rugby World Cup, hosted in that country
following the dismantling of apartheid. Directed by Clint Eastwood the
film stars Morgan Freeman as South African President Nelson Mandela,
Matt Damon as François Pienaar the captain of the Springboks, the
South African rugby union team.
The story is based on the John Carlin book playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game
That Changed a Nation.
After South Africa elected Nelson Mandela president, the racially
divided country could've easily erupted into civil war. In Clint
Eastwood's determinedly populist, yet heartfelt look back at that time,
the director examines one of the more ingenious steps Mandela (Morgan
Freeman in a performance of sly charm) took to prevent that from
happening. Knowing that his country was set to host the Rugby World Cup
in 1995, Mandela believed the national team could provide an example
of reconciliation in action.
François Pienaar (an unbelievably buff Matt Damon) the mostly white
Springboks inspired devotion among Afrikaners and disgust among native
Africans. Instead of changing their name or colors, Mandela encouraged
them to win for the sake of their homeland. During the year leading up
to the event, the team learns to work together as never before, just as
Mandela's newly integrated security detail, a combination of cops and
activists, finds a way to bridge their ideological differences. By the
time of the big day, the poorly ranked Springboks are well equipped to hold their own
against New Zealand's All Blacks (so named for their uniforms, not
their racial composition). Drawing from John Carlin's Playing the Enemy,
Anthony Peckham's script takes its title, Latin for "unconquerable,"
from a British poem Mandela held close to his heart during the 27 years
he spent in prison. If Damon's accent is more convincing, Freeman
serves as the film's heart--and as a timely reminder that
reconciliation is never easy, but that it will always trump revenge.
Morgan Freeman was born to play this role, he knew so, and that's why
he produced this film. A dream project of his, waiting for someone to
take the job of directing, his old friend Clint Eastwood steps in. Who
says no to Clint? Especially Freeman, who under Eastwood's direction
won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, Invictus, William Ernest
Henley, which is read by Mandela in the film, is well crafted and has a
strong lead role.
