Invictus

Clint Eastwood I think gives his most simple, easy yet powerful films, he is able to achieve one of the most inspirational films. Starring Academy Award Winners Morgan Freeman as South African President Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Rugby Captain Francois Pienaar, Invictus is a picture full of emotion, magnetism, and revelation. What critics and audiences may be deceived by is belief that this is the Nelson Mandela biopic which it is not. It is the story of Nelson Mandela's first years as President of the culturally separated country South Africa in 90's. In a way to unify his people, Mandela used the country's love for Rugby to connect the whites and the blacks. As their record has been less than impressive, no one expects anything notable from the Springboks. Mandela taps the captain of the team to rally his troops and surge into battle for the greater good of his country.

Morgan Freeman as Mandela works well. He shows a great depth showing both Mandela's hostile yet tranquil behaviors. Freeman is very believable, and makes us really feel for the struggle that the entire nation is facing. While his characterization is strong it is far from the best of the year and the toughest part in any movie such as this one is that his accent disappears at times. Matt Damon, showing himself as one of the best working actors today, doesn't have enough of the character depth and arc to carry the picture. Damon's performance doesn't allow him to really go anywhere. It's a superb turn, with a great accent, that warrants credit where the credit is due. However, Damon requires nothing more than a little motivational speaking and responsive humility.

For me one of the biggest disappointments however is though that I made the mistake in thinking that this would be more of a sports movie rather then a movie that dealt with a countries racism and political decisions that had to be made. I would have loved to see more scenes of rugby throughout the film. It was really interesting though as the showed the change within the country over time as more and more countrymen rallied around the Springboks. For me it is truly amazing to think that through a single sport a country can be united and the racism can disappear greatly. While this was not a cure all for all the troubles that South Africa has had it made huge in roads to repairing a lot of the troubles.

Overall, this was a good movie. While for me it is not in the same league as the top sports movies ever made, I though no longer consider this movie a sports movie having actually seen it. With good acting this movie was very enjoyable. I am giving this movie three buckets of popcorn out of five. While this is not a must have for the DVD collection, it is worth the price of renting.

-The Movie Man-