Invictus 2009
This is a interesting movie set after the end of apartheid in South Africa just as Nelson Mandela takes office as President after spending most of the previous 30 years as a political prisoner. But rather than tell that story, the movie centers on the mostly white South African rugby team. It’s like doing a movie about George Washington, but focusing on his tailor. This way we still get to see the story of Nelson Mandela and the challenges he faced in taking control of a modern country still run predominantly by white people. It could have gone very badly, and usually does in Africa, but Mandela really struggles to bring the sides together. And one way he wants to do this is to focus energy and attention on the country’s rugby team which the white population adores while the black population is far more interested in soccer. He picks the captain of the team, played by Matt Damon, to play his part in the new South Africa by winning rugby’s World Cup, to be hosted by South Africa. This isn’t easy because South Africa lags well behind rugby power houses like England and New Zealand.
Like I say, it is an interesting story. We still get a lot of glimpses into Mandela’s administration. And it is told through rugby which most American audiences know nothing about. And while the movie is interesting, and the stories of the rugby team and Mandela are good ones, it doesn’t quite work. I just didn’t know that much about rugby and there wasn’t really enough character development. Mandela is already who he is and the rugby captain and his team don’t really seem to change that much, except they do get a better appreciation of what their new country is like. Directed by Clint Eastwood, he seems to err on the side of not telling us quite enough, as if he shows us some stuff we will understand the thoughts and feelings of the characters. But I wasn’t even sure why the movie was called Invictus. The movie is still worth watching, either as a sports movie or to learn something about recent South African history, but it misses being truly outstanding.
Written: 24 Jul 2010
Owned on: Digital