Invictus 2009

     This movie is based on a book titled Playing the Enemy by John Carlin and the screenplay was written by Anthony Peckham.  It is about the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela joined forces with the Captain of South Africa's rugby team, Francois Pienaar to help unite their country.  Newly elected President Mandela realizes his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of Apartheid.  He believes he can bring his people together through the universal language of sports.  Mandela rallies South Africa's rugby team as they make their run to the 1995 Rugby World Cup Championship match.

     The meaning of the word invictus is unconquerable or undefeated in Latin.  Also Invictus was an inspirational poem written by William Ernest Henley in 1975.  Fans of Mandela would find it interesting to read the book Playing the Enemy.  Morgan Freeman is very good in his role as Mandela.  Matt Damon is only 5'11" compared to Francois Pienaar's 6’4" and his portrayal of the Springbok captain us also very good.  Plus, his excellent Afrikaans accent compensates for his lack of height.  In the special feature, "Matt Damon plays Rugby" Matt did his own rugby and earned Francois' admiration and friendship.  So what more can be said about the Rugby?  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

134 min Biography directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Anthony Peckham and John Carlin with Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Tony Kgoroge,Patrick Mofokeng, MattStern, Julian Lewis Jones, Adjoa Andoh, Marguerite Wheatley, Leleti Khumalo, Patrick Lyster, Penny Downie, Sibongile Nojila, Bonnie Mbuli.

Note:  Imdb 7.3* out of 10* with 151,305 reviews,    Rotten Tomatoes 76% with 246 critic reviews 75% with 100,000+ audience scores, Metacritc 74 out of 100 with 34 critic reviews 7.1 out of 10 with 211 user scores, Roger Ebert 3 1/2*, The Guardian 2* out of 3* Xan Brooks, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 2590 reviews.

Special Note:  Nelson Mandela said that only Morgan Freeman could portray him and Freeman was the first actor cast.  Morgan Freeman is left-handed but to portray Nelson Mandela as accurately as possible it was very important to him to use his right hand.  He trained himself to use his right hand when he was seen writing in this movie since Mandela was right-handed.  The prison cell that the South African rugby team visited was the actual prison cell on Robben Island where Mandela stayed for eighteen years of his prison sentence.  

Mistakes:  In the shot of the 747 pilot looking over the stadium, the shot includes a Vodacom advertisement on top of the tall Ponty Building.  In 1995, there was a Coca Cola sponsorship on top of the building.  The 4 engine Airbus A340 with the Chester Williams photo on the fuselage was only introduced to South African Airways in 2000.  In the film the scrums word means scrummage and the purpose of a scrum is to restart play with a contest for possession after a minor infringement or stoppage.  This command was added to the laws of rugby in 2007 to make scrums safer.  When Francois Pienaar leaves the bus on the beginning of their tour of South Africa in 1994, a closeup on his feet shows the triple stripe logo of Adidas on his shoes.  That logo was used at least since the 1960's and afterwards the logo was the Trefoil.  When the Springboks are on their way into the township for the PR exercise, a 2008 election poster for Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille can be seen.