"Invictus" rated M 133 minutes

[Full Row M Seat 30 Resource Paper when I'm back from holidays]

SPOILER ALERT!!!
"Invictus" is Latin for "invincible." It is also the name of a short poem written in 1875 by William Ernest Henley, a British poet. The poem was written while Henley was in hospital having to have his stricken foot amputated. Mandela is heard saying lines from the poem.

It's part of a depiction of Nelson Mandela seeking to harness the possibilities of a South African World Cup Rugby victory in 1995. It represented a chance to unite black and white in cheering for the team, embracing a new flag and signing the new South African anthem. All of which Mandela saw as representing much wider issues.

Morgan Freeman and others had laboured with "Long Walk to Freedom" the Mandela story, but spanning several decades it proved difficult to adapt for a film. This film is instead drawn from the John Carlin book "Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation."

Broadly the rugby familiar screenwriter and Director Clint Eastwood are able to capture a series of vignettes outlining the historical and deeper significance of this tournament and it's home teams efforts to win the Webb Ellis Cup. The rugby scenes are great andit works as a vehicle for exploring what was happening in South Africa at the time but more poignantly, something of who this man Mandela was and how he operated. Right down to allowing the Springbok name to continue so as not to further alienate the Afrikaners and their national passion.

Having seen the trailers I was worried about both Morgan Freeman's accent and performance and Matt Damon's stature and ability to 'get inside' the game of Rugby. By all reports when he first met Francois Peinaar he commented that he looked bigger on screen... uncomfortable silence overcome... Likewise there are a few slips and a few times you forget it's an actor playing Mandela.

It's a really good film, not a great film, and I reckon most would enjoy it and learn from it but I can't know what it's like to watch and not be a rugby nut or to remember most details of the matches...

Critics have mostly liked the film but expressed concern over the simplistic depiction of change and solutions to problems. On the contrary I saw a film where a clever Clint Eatwood used various relationships around the story to tell it's underlying themes... there is momentary euphoria surrounding such sporting events [World Cup Soccer for example] but nobosy was suggesting all South Africa's problems were solved... just that in that moment you catch a glimpse of what's possible. Eastwood uses those alongside the main story to tell this tale: the mix of black and white security guards; Peinaar's own family and their black housemaid; Mandela and his family; the Sports Council; and a trusted Rugby commentator keeps you informed of the teams progress or lack thereof...

In all it's a good film attempting to share an important story. I love the inclusion of the emergence of Jona Lomu asa rugby freak [Player of the Tournament] especially as he uses Mike Catt as a doormat in the game v England.

Mandela is a living treasure and this depiction captures his values, ethics, frailty, frustrations and statesmanlike manner really well.