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Clint Eastwood’s Invictus
Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of creativecommons.org
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Written by Zach Ellman, Online Entertainment Editor
Clint Eastwood has directed many films in his time that have been worthy of an Academy Award, such as Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River and Gran Torino. After seeing his newest film, Invictus, Eastwood can definitely expect a spot on the nomination ballot.
Invictus tells they story of anti-Apartheid activist Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) being released from Robben Island Prison after 27 years and leading the new Republic of South Africa as its first democratically elected President. As Mandela tries to fix the economic and social problems from Apartheid South Africa, he comes to the realization that he must first unite his country.
Mandela decides to turn to Francois Pienaar, played by Matt Damon, the captain of the South African National Rugby Team. Mandela looks to him to inspire all of the 43 million citizens of South Africa by winning the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which is held in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Pienaar prepares the team by practicing all across South Africa. In addition, he also takes the team one day to Robben Island in Pretoria to visit Mandela’s actual prison cell. As Pienaar walks inside the tiny cell, there is nothing but a pillow and a blanket on the ground. This heartwarming scene makes you realize what a great leader and man that he was.
One of the amazing parts about the movies is how President Mandela’s body guards, both black and white, come to unite as well throughout the movie, showing that Mandela’s efforts with the rugby team is already giving in impact to his fellow South Africans.
With the whole film being shot entirely in South Africa, with the exception of using some CGI footage for scenes of fans in the stadium, Eastwood gives the movie a realistic feeling when watching it.
Based on the book Playing The Enemy: Nelson Mandela and The Game That Changed a Nation by John Carlin, Eastwood chose the title Invictus because Mandela would often rely on the poem “Invictus” (which is Latin for ‘invincible’) by William Hernest Henry for inspiration while he was in prison on Robben Island.
In preparation for the movie, Matt Damon was coached one on one with Chester Williams, who was actually on the 1995 South African national rugby team as portrayed in the movie. With filming starting in just mid-March, Invictus gives an amazing performance of an inspiring true story.
All in all, Invictus shows how through everything that President Mandela had been through, that it is possible to unite the citizens of his country. Just as how he quotes from the poem “Invictus”: “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.”
Even if you don’t understand how to play rugby, this is definitely a must-see movie. After all, just like how many South Africans say it, “Soccer is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans, and rugby is a hooligan’s game played by gentlemen.”
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January 28th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Thanks for writing about this. There’s a lot of solid tech information on the internet. You’ve got a lot of that info here on your website. I’m impressed – I try to keep a couple blogs somewhat current, but it’s a struggle sometimes. You’ve done a big job with this one. How do you do it?
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