Invictus 2009 123movies

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.

It helps to have Nelson Mandela as your main character. The inspiration he provided his country for decades, in and out of jail, is transferred here through a single focus–the national rugby team. In the form of Morgan Freeman, Mandela is made to be as profound and humble as he truly seemed to be, at least as a public figure.

So even if you have troubles with Clint Eastwood movies (they all seem pretty decent, you have to admit, whatever the repeating clichés in them), this one rises above in enough parts to warrant the good attention. Eastwood, to be sure, never appears. This is mostly Freeman’s movie, though the other big name is Matt Damon, who is good enough (as usual) in a role that is minor and fairly straight forward, the captain of the team.

The best of the movie is the interpersonal mixing with the political. We get a glimpse (if only that) of post-apartheid South Africa, and of how fractious the scene was. And how Mandela used the mostly white rugby team to represent a new, tolerant country with its new, tolerant black president. It’s a clever, clear way to get into that world in a heartbeat.

Where the movie gets most outwardly exciting it gets more ordinary–at the Rugby World Cup. Then it becomes a kind of sports movie where the underdog seems like it really might win. It helps to have the larger themes of reconciliation and Mandela’s presence mean so much in it all, but eventually it’s all about getting the goal. I was cheering for the S. African team but I was also losing respect for the movie’s more interesting (and important) intentions. I know, that makes me seem mixed up, but you might see what I mean when you get there.

Does this sentimentalize the situation? Oversimplify? Make Hollywood and far more interesting and complicated and sometimes unhappy affair? Probably a loud yes on all accounts. But in that sense, it really is a Clint Eastwood film. Well made stuff, but not half what it might have been.