Invictus review

Number 957 on the top 1000 films of all time is Clint Eastwood's biographical sports-drama Invictus.

Four years after being released from prison, Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) is elected as president of a South Africa still recovering from Apartheid. However, he believes he can unite the country by helping the South African rugby team, 'the Springboks,' captained by Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) win the 1995 Rugby World Cup. But this will be easier said than done as for many of the black South Africans, the Springboks still represent the Apartheid.

Invictus marks the third collaboration between Freeman and Eastwood after Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. I didn't much care for Million Dollar Baby, as I'm not a boxing fan. I'm also not a rugby fan, so I didn't think I would like Invictus, but I did.

Whether I like sport or not, there is no denying that it has the power to unite people across different countries, colours, cultures and creeds. Will this be the case with South Africa? A country that's been ravaged by Apartheid. That's what Invictus explored.

Mandela certainly had a big task on his hands. His goal of uniting his country through rugby is met with cynicism from both his supporters and detractors. And we see this on both the macro and the micro-level, as whites and blacks must work together for the common good. Mandela's black security detail resent having to work with their white counterparts and vice versa. But over time, the the men begin to bond shown through a lovely sequence of the two sides playing a friendly game of rugby each other. 

It certainly helped when you had an actor like Morgan Freeman playing Mandela. He had the same charisma you would expect from any Freeman role. Apparently, he was so convincing that even Mandela's wife had trouble telling the two apart. Freeman was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar ultimately losing to Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart.

However, I don't think that Matt Damon was anything special. Anybody could have played the role of Francois Pienaar. I'm not entirely sure how he got a Best Supporting Oscar nod where he ultimately lost to Christolph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds. Although I did like the scene where Pienaar and the rest of the team visit where Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island. I've done this trip myself and it was powerful.

*Spoiler alert* South Africa go on to win the 1995 world Rugby World cup just like they do in real life. As one might expect, the ending becomes incredibly cheesy and silly, as their winning moments are played in slow-motion. I couldn't stop laughing as I heard all the rugby players grunting in slow-motion. It was very stupid.

But that doesn't matter as South Africa won the tournament and have since won three more. Has that resulted in a fully unified South Africa? Maybe not, but it's a damn good start.