The Inspirational Movie of 2009

Rating: 7/10 (3 February 2010)

Invictus shows Hollywood doing what it does best: inspiring true stories. These days I don't expect much from Hollywood. But at least Hollywood hasn't yet lost its touch to inspire and leave the viewer upbeat. Invictus works very well as a movie so long as the viewer comes prepared to leave feeling hopeful, inspired and cheerful about life.
Invictus is a completely traditional piece of film-making. Every angle is predictable; the storyline develops the way we expect. Every character changes in a predictable direction, the movie even ends without surprise – in triumph, of course, as befits an inspiring true story.
As much as I love Clint Eastwood, he's nothing more than a good director of little dramas. He'll never set cinema on fire like Polanski or Scorsese. But that also means that there's probably no one better suited than him to direct a story about Nelson Mandela, a man who has been inspiring people for decades.
Invictus shows us Mandela taking charge of the South African presidency after decades in jail. His country is a mess in just about every sense. One of the problems he has to deal with is the social division between whites and blacks. Democracy may have prevailed, but you don't change decades of racial conflicts and prejudice with laws. So whites and blacks continue to hate each other. A point of conflict between the two groups is the rugby team Springboks, which during Apartheid was a symbol of white supremacy. Now the blacks want to end the team, but Mandela sees in it a way to unite the country. His idea is to use the Springboks to win the Rugby World Cup in order to bring the country together in celebration.
This is an interesting portrayal of Mandela, showing him as a political manipulator, although for benevolent reasons. He's no fool and he realises that the whites, though a minority, still own most of the country's economy. Also they love the Springboks. So it wouldn't be too intelligent to end the team. I for one wish the movie had continue in this morally ambiguous line, but this is an inspiring true story after all, and there's nothing more dispiriting in our times than politics.
What we have are inspiring speeches and many exciting rugby matches, and wide shots of crowds celebrating, all the way to its predictable conclusion. And I won't deny I didn't remain inspired and hopeful and optimistic and radiant for a few hours after watching Invictus. And then I remembered South Africa is today considered one of the most dangerous places on Earth.
Morgan Freeman shines as Nelson Mandela and I don't think anyone deserves the Oscar for Best Actor more than him. He doesn't just capture Mandela's accent but also his mannerisms; watching Freeman was like watching Mandela at times. I don't have any idea who François Pienaar is or looks like, but I loved Matt Damon's performance too. Whether he was faithful or not, I honestly I couldn't care since I loved every scene he was in it. Kyle Eastwood's score was pretty good, but not as good as the ones he made for Letters of Iwo Jima and Gran Torino. These are scores I enjoy listening once in a while, but the one for Invictus I feel only works in the context of the movie, especially in the rugby scenes.
Invictus was one of my favourite movies of 2009, it's a lovely drama conscious of its purpose and limitations and thankfully doesn't try to rise above them.