Invictus
Invictus is a work by 19th century poet William Ernest Henley who because of health issues was himself somewhat of a prisoner. Although it is often quoted it seems to have been tailor made for Nelson Mandela who used it as a constant source of strength during his 30 years of incarceration while South Africa’s apartheid policy was the rule of law. That came to an end in 1991 and by the mid 90’s in the ultimate case of poetic justice, Mandela was established as that country’s leader. In a slight deviation from history the poem was further used by Mandela as inspiration for Springbok, the country’s rugby team to win that sport’s 1995 World Cup. For Mandela this was more than winning a trophy, he had the foresight to realize that a win could galvanize a nation in tatters after a somewhat velvet revolution. Making the dream come true was no easy task – soccer was the sport loved by South Africa’s black majority and rugby was the passion of the Afrikaners. Not only is this a marvellously bone crunching gridiron movie with desperate battling but it also features thoughtful, erudite motivational speeches by one of the true heroes of our time. Morgan Freeman was born the play Mandela (as a matter of fact for years I thought they were the same guy) and as team captain Francois Pienaar a beyond-Borne-buffed Matt Damon sporting an Aryan bleached blonde coif and spot on Jo-berg accent is terrific. Kudos to director Clint Eastwood whose mastery at pushing all the right buttons is so far beyond the spaghetti westerns and those daffy “Any Which Way…” movies that kept people distracted while the real Mandela lamented over Henley’s poem.