Firstly let me say that in 1995 I stayed up till crazy hours in the morning to watch the All Blacks get beaten in overtime during the Rugby World Cup final. I felt empty and very unsatisfied at the outcome. Sitting there with a stack of friends all crowded into this smallish lounge in Epsom, all of us were dumbfounded. This was our year to win the world cup. We had longed to re-live the glory of the 1987 victory. Yes I know, this sounds a little too serious for just game, but back in 1995 we actually loved the All Blacks and their coach. We had faith in them and they seemed invincible. (Which ironically is “Invictus” in latin)
It didn’t take long for the stories of mass food poisoning within the All Black camp, which of course in turn gave life to rumours of deliberate poisoning by the opposition. So in general terms the majority of New Zealand felt hard done by and somewhat ripped off by the loss.
So with that set of feelings in mind, I went in to watch Clint Eastwood’s telling of this moment history from a very different perspective to mine. “Invictus” tells the story of a country broken and hurting. South Africa was a country torn asunder by the separation of colour and the dawning of a new era of legal equality. Apartheid may have been removed legally and yet even with the election of a black President (Mandela) this was a country still haunted by the old ways the old colours. For the population of black South Africans, the colours, the name and the logo of the “SpringBoks” still reeked of the oppressors.
So as we see in the some of the earlier opening moments of “Invictus”, the white South African’s cheer on the SpringBoks while the black South African’s were cheering for any team going up against the SpringBoks. Of course Mandela (Morgan Freeman) sees this not as a barrier but yet as a possible tool to re-unite a nation. Despite their dismal form leading up to the World Cup, Mandela inspires the Captain of the team, Francios Penaar (Matt Damon) to pull his team together for one of the greatest comebacks in sporting history.
I should point out here that the tile of “Invictus” comes from a poem of the same name written in 1875 by William Ernest Henley. This poem was one of the things that kept Mandela’s soul alive during his incarceration.
I really enjoyed “Invictus”. It was beautifully filmed with outstanding dialogue that moves the soul to rejoice amidst such immense racial tension. All though I heard others saying that they didn’t feel that Freeman captured Mandela, I believe he did. With the help and support of some wonderful location shooting including the SpringBoks visit to the actual prison cell that Mandela spent his twenty-seven years imprisoned within. Through Eastwood’s use of flashback ghosting these moments as Penaar stands staring out the window from within Mandela’s cell, are deeply moving and somewhat inspiring. This also comes out in the dialogue when the night before the World Cup final Penaar’s partner asks if he is thinking about tomorrow. Penaar responds with, “No, tomorrow will handle its self. I was thinking how a man could spend thirty years in prison and come out and forgive the men who did it to him.”
The hardest thing for me watching this film was the complete change around I had in my thoughts and attitude towards this particular rugby match. The first time I watched the game I felt robbed and that my team had lost. This time I found myself feeling elated at the sight of them losing. In fact now I feel somewhat excited that I had been awake and watching one of the great moments as sport, politics and freedom collided.
Reviewed by: Jon E Clist
Releases: 28th January 2010
Rating: PG Contains course
Running time: 140 minutes
Genre: Drama
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon & Scott Eastwood
Director: Clint Eastwood
When I saw the short of this film it felt weird that this movie about an event which supposedly reunites South Africans is made by Americans. But from the sounds of it, this fact hasn’t put the film at a disadvantage. How do the All Blacks across in the films? I wouldn’t be surprised if they are barely mentioned.
Invictus – Hollywood’s bastardisation of a Rugby match where the opposition had to be deliberately cobbled in order for them to win. We all know about the poisoning of the all blacks. The people who did this were moral and physical cowards. Typical Hollywood to leave that out. They always insist that the “good guys” are saints. None of us are saints, regardless of what side we are on.
Hey there, in response to a couple of the comments…
Violet… The All Blacks are revered in this film, they are talked about as invincible and by the South African’s as the best in the world. The footage that they have recreated of the film is really good and showed th4e game for the close arm wrestle that it was in reality. Some of the camera shots are brilliantly close and I kind of wished rugby was filmed this way in real life but you can’t really have cameras on the field with you nor is a rugby game choreographed in real life.
Michael. Sorry buddy, but you are talking from complete ignorance. There has never been any proof that the All Blacks we poisoned on purpose. But there is proof that the ones who got sick had all eaten at the same place and those who weren’t sick had not. It has always been a question of fitness at high altitudes… We lost the game in overtime. If you were watching the game you would ave seen how tired and struggling for breath the All Blacks were by the time it got to the end. As for your comments of Americans Basterdising a Game… you obviously haven’t seen this film, because if you had you would know this is not the case here. Unlike many other American films.
But thanks for your comment.