First Hit: A solid well intentioned film about how a rugby team helped Nelson Mandela create an important social shift in South Africa.
Clint Eastwood knows how to make a well executed and solid film. His films are well paced, don't waste time and he makes his intentions very clear.
I've heard say that he pulls obvious heart strings to evoke emotion. But so what, it works because it is the heart being touched which allows us to be open to stories about people. In Invictus he gets to the heart of the matter which is “forgiveness”.
Forgiveness is one of the most powerful tools we humans have to move our lives forward with grace and dignity. Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) gets this principle and brings this lesson to the people of South Africa. He also knows that people with differing points of view can be brought together if they have a single focal point.
In this film the focal point is the white supported national rugby team called the Springboks. With the Rugby World Cup being held in his country in less than a year he challenges the team through their captain Francois Pienaar (played by Matt Damon) to win the world cup. By doing this he suspects that his countrymen, whites and blacks, will come together and unite around the team because they will have an opportunity to be seen worldwide as an important and united nation.
Pienaar bites on the challenge given to him by Mandela because he sees and feels the truth in the words Mandela offers him in their brief conversations.
The rest is history and just because we know the outcome it doesn’t mean we cannot revisit the beauty and power of a nation coming together under the most auspicious of circumstances. It is the heart of the matter.
Freeman was the perfect choice to play Mandela. Besides some of the facial likenesses, it is a great character for Freeman to embody. Freeman has the intelligence and inner peace to play this amazing man. Damon was outstanding as the rugby captain. He put on the necessary weight and muscle required to make his role believable and his single minded determination brought his role to life. It wasn’t flamboyant, like many of our sports superstars; it was a deep understanding of what it would take to achieve the stated goal, bringing the country together if even for one single moment in front of the world. The rest of the cast was equally good and definitely brought out part of the struggle of the shifting political situation of that time.
Overall: A wonderful film to watch and to reflect upon the truth; that forgiveness is the heart of the matter.