Dull Ghandi meets Remember the Titans and Rudi

Rating: 6/10 (25 July 2010)

Here is the plot: Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman), upon becoming president, decides to use his country's return to international interaction as a catalyst for smoothing the segue from apartheid to a mixed society. He decides that the beloved (by whites) rugby team should be the focal point and asks the captain, played by Matt Damon, to inspire his men.
Why it fails: 1)Like Glory or Remember the Titans, this movies simply tells a story by having one episode after another without any depth of character or emotional charge, as though the source material of evil white people was enough to move you to cry(as opposed to Rudi, when he practices or gets rejected or finally makes the field you feel it, not so with Invictus). There is nothing inspiring nor moving, the direction is flat, and the three chapters to the movie are impossible to distinguish. Matt Damon takes his fellow prisoners on a trip to the prison where Mandela was for almost thirty years, but what should have been motivating was not. Morgan Freeman voice overs a poem, Invictus, during this visit, but his normally beautiful voice is wasted in over-sentimentality which not only beat the point to death but was difficult to understand. The movie seems to set up that Matt Damon will motivate his players to counter the New Zealanders' Maori psychologically devastating pregame war dance. Does he get the men to learn the ANC anthem to get them prepared before the match? It is impossible to tell what or whether they sing. A truly failed moment.
2) The dialog is dull, you remember almost none of it after the movie. Morgan Freeman is my favorite actor but almost all he does here is issue Ghandi-like one-liners which does not have nearly the same effect as they did in Ghandi.
3) In summary, the whole thing is emotionally flat, Mandela is a great man, but his legacy is white-washed from the ANC violence, not one Rugby player's personality was developed, including Matt Damon's, the directing was uninspiring,a good movie for people who want to feel politically correct and but have no depth.