Union of the State

Rating: 6/10 (16 October 2015)

Appropriately, this dramatisation of South Africa's famous Rugby World Cup victory in 1995 in their own country, just a few years after Nelson Mandela's release from prison and the nation's re-admission to international sport, was shown while the present competition is occurring (Come on Scotland!). Actually I'm no rugby buff and so without a full working knowledge of the events of the time, bar the conclusion of course, let myself be swept along in a green and gold wave of sporting triumph and nation-building under the aegis of Mandela's benevolent presidency.
The three narrative viewpoints centre on Mandela himself naturally and his transformation of the hard-line body politic in South Africa, the national rugby team captain Francois Pienaar and his evolution from relatively ignorant white Afrikaner to an inspiring one-nation sports idol, inspired by the humanity of Mandela and as a counterpoint microcosm of the new South Africa, the fractious, grudging melding of the established white security detail with Mandela's new black team which naturally goes from mutual dislike and mistrust to eventual respect and cooperation if not outright affection.
In truth there wasn't too much drama to get excited about, as there usually isn't in sporting dramas and I have to say that while I enjoyed the triumph of the underdog and the respected the magnanimity of Mandela's conciliatory vision for his nation, director Eastwood didn't exactly rouse me out of my seat in so doing. I also never quite believed that I was watching Nelson Mandela, as Morgan Freeman, game as he is, just always looked like Morgan Freeman in the film. Damon benefits from being based on a less widely-known character although I understand that physically he resembles Pienaar just about as little as Freeman does Mandela. As ever he engages totally with his role, especially physically so that you believe in his part.
The crowd scenes, especially recreating the stadium-full atmosphere of the Final and the later euphoric street celebrations of black and white alike are well done, even if you don't quite get the full blood and guts effect of fully engaged sport in the matches itself. Eastwood also, as ever, takes plenty of time out for reflective silence and rumination with some obvious exposition inserts too, no doubt with the American viewer in mind (say, how does this extra-time work again?).
Still, it had to be said he does a relatively good job with an assignment which must have been somewhat alien to him and pays proper respect to one of the more notable sporting and national triumphs of recent times.