His Unconquerable Soul

Rating: 9/10 (1 April 2011)

Invictus is one of those sports films that is more than about sports. It transcends athletics and delves deeply into world politics and human rights. Nelson Mandela who learned so many universal truths to heart in his long prison exile, learned another in that nothing on earth can unite people like sports. He may have learned that by knowing something of the life of Jackie Robinson who when he integrated American Major League Baseball found that racial differences could be bridged easier than you would imagine by fans with the common interest of seeing that Brooklyn Dodger team win.
If such for a borough of the City of New York how much greater for the South African nation ruled so long by an evil doctrine of separatist White Supremacy. The black majority was now asserting itself, but Mandela did not want to preside over a nation of vengeance. The previously all white Springbok Rugby team, now integrated could unite the nation if it won the World Cup in that sport.
So Mandela personally interested himself in that idea and recruited the Springbok player/coach in his crusade. Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon who played Mandela and the coach Francois Pienaar made a dream happen and had blacks and whites behind the Springboks in their quest.
Two things that American audiences might have trouble grasping is that in the Mandela cabinet as in many other countries there is such a thing as a Minister of Sports. Our athletics in America are far more a private institution, that is unheard of in the USA. We might have a State Athletic Commission for boxing and other violent type sports that are mostly concerned with athletic safety. But that wasn't even always the case.
And of course Rugby football is not played here. I have a young friend from South Africa who just scoffs at our National Football League and all the protective gear those guys wear. American audiences weaned on Monday Night Football seeing these Rugby players in sneakers, shorts and team jerseys playing it as rough as the NFL might get a bit of culture shock.
Clint Eastwood as director had a marvelous eye for the time of history he was filming and for the culture of South Africa. But he was best at handling his actors as Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon received Best Actor and Supporting Actor nominations for their roles. If there is a fault with Invictus it is that these two so dominate the film that no other characters really develop. But these are two who can hold an audience's attention.
For a really compelling film about one of the great men of the last and current century and the time he lived in, you must absolutely see and be informed and educated by Invictus.