Invictus (Movie Review) by Dishan Batuwaththa

A glamorous movie about the power of forgiveness and the reconciliation of the races.

 

After 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela returned to politics and was elected in 1994 as the first black president of South Africa, a country that had been torn apart by years of violent and divisive racism. Mandela's spirituality was built around the ideal of forgiveness, the practice of reconciliation, and everyday kindness and courtesy. The challenge facing him was to find a way to unify the country's white and black citizens without slighting either group. He came up with an unusual solution which is vividly and beautifully depicted in Invictus, an extraordinarily spiritual film directed by Clint Eastwood with a screenplay by Anthony Peckham.

After Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) becomes President of South Africa, the newspapers ask the question on everybody's minds: He can win an election but can he run a country? Many think that civil war is a real possibility unless a way can be found to meet black aspirations and quell white fears.

Brenda, his chief of staff, wants him to concentrate on economic matters and foreign affairs, but Mandela comes up with his own creative plan to unify the divided country into a "rainbow nation." When he learns that a sports commission wants to abandon the mainly white national rugby team, the Springbok, the President appears before them and gives a passionate speech saying that by taking away the rugby team from the Afrikaners, they will be widening the rift between the races and starting a new cycle of hatred and fear. Even though the team and its emblem remain to many blacks a symbol of apartheid, Mandela is convinced that things can be turned around by taking another path of action.

Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), the captain of the Springbok rugby team which has been losing regularly, is shocked when he receives an invitation to tea with the President. Mandela tells him how important it is to inspire everyone to be a part of the adventure of building a strong, healthy, and prosperous new nation. He shares with the non-political athlete how leaders can help people to exceed their expectations and to accomplish incredible things. He lifts Pienaar's spirits and helps him to see the possibility of the rugby team miraculously turning itself around and winning the World Cup. As further inspiration, Mandela sends the athlete a copy of "Invictus," the poem he relied upon during many years of imprisonment with its telling lines: "I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul."

Most stirring message of Invictus is its affirmation of the power of forgiveness. Mandela says that it liberates the soul and removes fear. By his constant actions to bring about reconciliation between the races, he shows how forgiveness releases us from the rigid restrictions of revenge and opens our hearts to those who have wronged us.