Invictus

As a South African who saw this film on Friday morning, I can tell you you the entertaining, inspiring and enjoyable "Invictus" exceeded all my expectations.

It really is a true story of epic proportions yet it's told with an intimate feel, and it is at least 98% accurate to the events of the time. Clint gets all the big details and so many of the little details right, but he never goes over the top. He directs with minimum fuss and achieves maximum effect, just letting the powerful story unfold without getting in its way.

I watched the 1995 Rugby World Cup and saw Madiba come out in the Springbok jersey. It was a wondrous sight. And when Joel Stransky slotted that drop kick over in the dying minutes and the Boks won, I wept and cheered along with everyone else. After the match millions of South African - of all races - celebrated. It was an amazing time. It was the birth of the "Rainbow Nation". Nelson Mandela is the greatest and most beloved of all South Africans. The man is a living legend, but so human and real. When he was President he brought hope to all South Africans, white and black. We, in my country, will never stop loving this incredible man. Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman did South Africa and our beloved Madiba proud. Francois Pienaar is also an amazing South African, an intelligent, big-hearted rugby played who always led by example, and Matt Damon's performance as him was superb. I was glued to the screen for every second of the film's running time (I didn't even move from my seat until the final credit rolled and the house lights came on), and I was moved to tears on several occasions. The final scene was especially touching.

Freeman's performance was magical and I can see him getting as Oscar nomination. If you think his Mandela is too cool to be true, think again. Mandela really is this cool. A brave and intelligent man whose courage and strength of character should serve as an example to people all over the world. After being unjustly imprisoned for nearly 30 years by a cruel and repressive regime, he emerged to run a country and teach its people the meaning of forgiveness and reconciliation.

I thoroughly recommend the authentically detailed, historically accurate "Invictus" to film lovers, Eastwood fans, Nelson Mandela fans and sports fans everywhere in the world. South Africans would be crazy to miss this excellent film, but it deserves to be a hit all over the globe. Let's hope it is.

Viva Clint Eastwood, viva Morgan Freeman, viva Madiba.

PS. I'm a huge fan of Clint Eastwood as both an actor and a director.

Of the films Eastwood has directed, my favorites, in no particular order, are "Unforgiven", "Million Dollar Baby", "Gran Torino", "The Outlaw Josey Wales", "Letters From Iwo Jima", "The Bridges of Madison County","Bird" and "Invictus". Yes, it's really that good. "Invictus" is another winner from Clint. He just seems to get better with age. What a creative roll he is currently on.

PPS. "Invictus" is one of the best sporting movies I have ever seen. But it's also about more than sport.

Set in the early to mid 90's, Clint Eastwood's "Invictus" covers the first year of Nelson Mandela's presidency and how he pushed the nation's rugby team, led by captain Francois Pienaar, to achieve World Cup glory. However, Mandela's backing of the rugby team splits many hairs, as the "Sprinboks" have come to be a symbol of apartheid for millions of South Africans, making Mandela risk the very base that pushed him into office. He must also deal with personal security, his exhaustive schedule, and the strains on his personal life.

As much as I respect Morgan Freeman, I was concerned that his presence would be distracting, that I would be seeing him instead of Nelson Mandela. I shouldn't have worried. Freeman completely immerses himself into the role and gives one of the best performances of the year. Not only are his accent and tone of voice quite good, but he brings a true 3-dimensionality to the role. Compare, for example, him having tea with Francois, to talking with his family, and to making a political speech. Freeman nailed every facet of Mandela's life.

Damon also excels as Pienaar, the solid enough rugby player who must do more than just lead by example for his team. The screenplay, adapted by Anthony Peckham, doesn't offer many narrative surprises, but it does do a good job examining not only the strife South Africa was in when Mandela was elected, but also the value of the team to the entire nation. Eastwood wisely plays the material straight. Though the material may seem familiar, the performances by Damon and especially Freeman are what elevate this tale into a solid and even uplifting drama.

The plot takes us back to the early 1990s, when Mandela was released from prison after being incarcerated for over 30 years. The opening scene is a competent summary of the Apartheid years, showing the division between whites and blacks, the latter playing football in a vacant lot, while the former, rugby in a green field. The progression of facts is fast, but quite explanatory and even exciting. Mandela's speeches, delivered by Morgan Freeman, are of a poignant intensity, and the first few minutes already catch the viewer with a lump in the throat.

Four years later, presidential elections take place in South Africa and Mandela is elected. The first point that the new ruler wants to change in the country is the separation between whites and blacks. Not with small revenge on the people who oppressed them for so many years, but with the idea that dialogue and understanding can make everyone live in harmony. One of his first actions is to assemble a multiracial security team, which will accompany him in all his appointments. This idea is rejected by the head of security, Jason (Tony Kgoroge), who, however, ends up being persuaded by the president himself. Realizing that rugby is a game very dear to the population, but that the crowd is divided between whites, Springbok fans, and blacks, fans of any other rival team, Mandela decides to ask the captain of the team, François Pienaar (Matt Damon), for a special attention with the World Cup, an event that will be hosted in the country soon. Mandela believes that a championship victory could bring the population together at last.

From a political point of view, "Invictus" is frighteningly naive: summing up Mandela's political initiatives to his involvement with the rugby team (his other commitments as a statesman, including a speech at the UN, are always viewed with disinterest by Eastwood), the film resorts to crude contrasts between the beginning and end of the narrative in order to try to demonstrate the effectiveness of the President's strategy. Thus, if at the beginning Mandela is booed by part of the public that is in the stadium, later he is received with shouts of "Nelson! Nelson! Nelson!", while a boy who refused to accept a shirt from the national team is eventually seen cheering for it - and if these examples already sound terribly artificial, they don't even compare to the embarrassing shot in which we see several white police officers carrying a little black boy as they celebrate a South African victory, in one of the film's most pathetic scenes. The script signed by Anthony Peckham (Sherlock Holmes, 2009), which completely forgets all the other attitudes that Mandela took to make South Africa evolve as a country. It wasn't just support for rugby that caused the population to let down its guard to racial prejudice. Certainly, other measures were taken, but never shown on the scene. It is true that the film is, after all, about sport, but certainly more details about the politics of the wise Mandela would enrich the narrative, giving a better portrait of that time. But that wasn't the point, apparently.

In any case, "Invictus" at least has some moments of subtlety that, if they don't balance the artificiality of most of the narrative, at least avoid major embarrassments: it is interesting to note, for example, how François speaks in Afrikaans with a white maid of Mandela not realizing that this is an insult to the President (who, in turn, pretends not to notice) - and Eastwood is to be commended for not trying to draw the viewer's attention to what is happening, leaving it up to us to perceive for ourselves (or not) the gaffe committed by the athlete. In the same way, when one of Mandela's black bodyguards finds himself facing a white colleague he doesn't know, his initial impulse (asking if he "is under arrest") is revealing and touching, demonstrating his conditioning to decades of oppression and injustice. Finally, the sequence involving a tour of the national team through an impoverished region of the country is something that moves without exaggeration, while at the same time illustrating the President's intelligent double strategy, which shocks the athletes with reality while bringing the population closer together. Of team.

As for the cast, it's no surprise that Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon and the rest of the cast are so inspired by their roles. Freeman, a friend of Mandela, had been trying to bring the life of the former president of South Africa to the cinema for years. After many unsuccessful attempts, the actor decided on the cut of the Rugby World Cup. Knowing this, it is easy to understand the vigor of an actor when interpreting Mandela, given the preparation and anticipation of his desire. An actor more than used to playing authority figures and characters whose wisdom is notorious (from God to the President of the USA, he has embodied all kinds of leaders), Freeman lends his immense charisma and his powerful and evocative voice to Mandela, pronouncing the words in a careful cadence that not only refers to the enunciation of the man he is incarnating, but also suggests a fundamental caution and intelligence for that man to be able to carry out his difficult functions of guiding a country divided by prejudice and poverty.

At the same time, the actor seeks to avoid deifying the subject, also portraying his loneliness, his sense of humor and his occasional insecurities. To emphasize this effort, by the way, another character goes so far as to comment that Mandela "is not a saint, but just a man", which seems to be an obvious attempt by the film not to become a hagiography - which would be commendable if the script itself do not take it upon yourself to, in the scene immediately following this speech, bring Mandela waiving a third of his salary because he considers it too high. Still, Freeman manages to create a figure that, while not being multidimensional or particularly complex (which is a shame), is far from caricature due to his restrained and balanced performance.

Matt Damon, another talented performer, is less fortunate, as his François Pienaar is never satisfactorily developed by the script - and it becomes even difficult to understand why the role required a star of Damon's stature, as it offers no opportunity to prominence, revealing himself as a lackluster athlete and a captain without much leadership ability. Anyway, the actor does what he can, deserving credit at least for his physical transformation and his accent. It is curious to observe how the star understands each different moment of that character, showing a shy silence in his day-to-day life, but abundant strength and determination while on the field. Pienaar's place is in the stadium, playing alongside his teammates. Any other location makes you uncomfortable. The interpreter's body expression represents this, especially if we notice how out of place he appears to be at home and how much master of himself he feels when commanding his companions.

The production gains real strength in its second hour, when it turns to clashes between the Springbok and their opponents in the World Cup. Eastwood is competent in managing to mix the brutality of the matches with the emotion and beauty of a game in the stadium. It is impressive to watch the players' movements so closely and to witness, on the big screen, emblematic moments of the matches - as is the case of the New Zealand Haka, a Maori ritual that precedes each All-Blacks game and that is captured with all the importance it deserves by the film-maker. On the other hand, Eastwood practically limits himself to some panoramic shots and mid-range shots, always opting for more closed shots that favor interpretations. He ends up exaggerating the use of slow motion - especially in the final game -, also making mistakes in the inorganic flashbacks that seek to do the unnecessary job of sending the viewer back to the period in which the protagonist was imprisoned. As if that were not enough, the filmmaker is dishonest when trying to create a cheap suspense in two specific moments: when accompanying a van that moves towards Mandela and when focusing on the somber expression of a pilot who commands a plane over the stadium in which the President is found - and the impression we get is that, lacking a real threat present in the script, Eastwood felt compelled to artificially include it through the direction.

The film's intentions are the best. And even though some of the most impressive/remarkable sequences were filmed in a stadium like Ellis Park, one of the most traditional and important in the country, the film lacks a better exploration of Mandela's story. The positive point of this story, and what it serves for us, if we consider football, or for other countries, taking into account their outstanding sports, is that of showing the ability of athletes to overcome themselves and, with their struggle, inspire and move to others. However, the film ends up getting a little tired due to some rugby sequences that are too long - which, probably, will only completely please fans of the sport. By seeking this balance between the "heroism" of a political leader and the act of bravery of athletes who knew how to reflect their quest for the union of a country, Invictus divides its forces into two fronts and, unfortunately, becomes less potent than it could have been. If only one side of the coin was chosen (preferably Mandela). Unfortunately, it is these small sins that put Invictus a notch below the filmmaker's previous works, such as Gran Torino (2008), Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) and Mystic River (2003). Those who think that Invictus is a biography of Nelson Mandela are mistaken. The protagonist of Invictus is the South African people demonstrated through rugby, and of course, a small part of the life trajectory of the Great Man that was Nelson Mandela. Too bad it didn't have as big an impact as it deserved.

Morgan Freeman's made a career out of playing inspirational second fiddles who always steal the movie. Now with Clint Eastwood's "Invictus", we finally get to see this amazing actor take front and center and run with it. The movie, based on a John Carlin novel about the event that changed South Africa, fits Freeman like a glove and it's hard to imagine he's not a front-runner for that lead actor Oscar he has so deserved for so long now.

He plays Nelson Mandela as a born leader, an authoritative yet empathetic uniter who preached forgiveness and looked for common ground when elected president of South Africa. His election caused unrest among whites, and blacks still had hard feelings for years-worth of oppression. The one thing he saw that could unite was the Rugby team, a shamefully rag-tag bunch facing extinction because many still saw the team as a left-over from apartheid. Mandela knew ending the team would mean more unrest among white Rugby fans so instead he presented a challenge to team captain Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon); win the world cup,unite us.

Do they? It's all predictably plotted and there are times where you wish Eastwood had employed an announcer to explain what's happening on the Rugby field but the great themes of forgiveness, unity, and determination make this a sports movie well worth seeing. There are really wonderful elements here. The relationship between Mandela's white and black security detail. The Rugby team reaching out to the community by going to the slums and teaching kids how to play. Pienaar's visit to Mandela's prison cell to understand the man's courage. The people of South Africa rallying into something of a community. And the bond between Mandela and Pienaar, very well played by both Freeman and Damon, of two men looking for their country's pride, it's center, and it's heart. By the final Rugby match, the movie has built up such good-will that any predictability or confusion on screen becomes an afterthought to the joy and excitement on display. Eastwood's film shows how sports can unify people, a simple yet inspirational and lovable message that should leave audiences cheering.

People forget that Nelson Mandela came to power at a time when his country was bitterly divided. There was the bitter experience that white South Africans saw in their neighboring countries,i.e., Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe and other nations where the White colonialist had been replaced by Black African politicians and a stable government had been replaced by corrupt, self-serving regimes where those in power feathered their nests after seizing the assets of their former White citizens and placed all their friends in positions of authority with the result of the country going to the dogs. The scene where the Afrikaaner newspaper remarks, "Mendela can get elected but can he run a country," and the superb Morgan Freeman remarks to his bodyguard that the headline raises a good point.

In a sense, this film is about Mandela. The rugby team becomes a metaphor of what he faced when ascending to the presidency, a nation divided. Noting that the Black South Africans were cheering for the opposition in the face of the old Apartheid guard whose love of rugby unified them. It's easy to forget that there was a great division among White South Africans, i.e., the descendants of the Boers, Afrikaaners, and the rest. There was even a middle ground with the "Coloreds," Asian South Africans, being caught between these two worlds and there were bitter rivalries among the competing African political interest groups as well.

Mandela's focus on reviving the national rugby team and making it a symbol of a new united nation homes in on the role of Matt Damon, an Afrikaaner who's the captain of the team. Francois is the catalyst that makes this story work and Damon, the rugged Mick from Boston, does a fantastic job showing the transition from hopelessness to hope as many White South Africans felt at that time. The wonderful thing about this film is its touching on all the levels. It goes beyond being merely the story of a single man or group of men. Sure, we love a "feel good" movie and of course we love an "underdog can win" flick, but this film works works because its about people working together to rebuild something new for everybody.

The film reeks with great moments: Pienaar visiting the cell where Mandela spent more than 20 years of his life, thinking and planning; The New Zealand Rugby team doing their Maori threat dance before the match; the jet buzzing the field before the game-- and so on. See it. Enjoy it. And, don't forget, it's a bit of history. Romanticized? Somewhat. Mandela wasn't able to solve all of South Africa's big problems, but he did one bang-up job for the Springboks.