An Important Film

Rating: 9/10 (11 December 2009)

It's interesting how well Eastwood balances political prisoner turned president Nelson Mandela with, of all things, rugby in his latest masterpiece. The biopic chronicles Mandela's rise to power and his efforts to unite South Africans, black and white alike, behind the national rugby team. It wasn't a political calculation, it was a human one.
Freeman absolutely disappears into his role as the iconic leader of post-Apartheid South Africa. This is an especially impressive feat for such a well known actor; it's not Morgan Freeman we're watching, it's Mandela. Damon does a good job as well. And while I'm no expert on accents, both sounded convincing to me.
The story is inspiring, absolutely inspiring. It's 1994, and blacks are granted the right to vote; Mandela is swept into office. Blacks are ecstatic, whites are fearful. How does Mandela overcome the hateful rift within the population? Rugby, of course. Mandela figures that if the South African rugby team can win the World Cup, the country will have something to rally behind as one.
What makes Invictus truly great is the universal truth found within its story. Sure, the end of Apartheid and South Africa's bright looking future make for a compelling story, but why stop there when you can make a powerful statement on what can be accomplished when hate, oppression, and violence end and peace begins. It works wonderfully in the context of the story between black and white, but it could be applied to Bosnian and Serb, Muslim and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Hutu and Tutsi...
Eastwood is on a roll. He's 79, but by God he's just getting started. The man has given us Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Flags of Our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima, Changeling, Gran Torino, and now Invictus all within six years; five of these movies are on the Top 250, and I have absolute confidence Invictus will make it six.
9/10