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Clint
Eastwood delivers
another brilliant
film to Warner Bros.
with
Invictus.
Invictus
is the story of the
rebirth of South
Africa, the
president that led
the country there,
and the rugby team
that inspired the
entire nation to be
great.
In
Invictus,
South Africa’s
beloved Springboks
rugby team is having
a rough patch. Their
play is uninspired
and depressing for
fans of the team.
And while The World
Cup is only a few
months away, most of
South Africa is
disheartened that
the ‘Green and Gold’
won’t be able to
make much of an
impact in the event.
At the same time,
South Africa is in a
transitional phase
with its newly
apartheid-free
government. Black
citizens had
struggled through
life while being
oppressed in the
country for years.
With the end of the
apartheid they’ve
gained freedom from
that oppression,
including the right
to vote. The new
South Africa elected
Nelson Mandela as
the president to
lead them, and
Mandela approached
the job with
determination and
outside thinking.
One of his outside
ideas was to unite
the country with the
game of rugby. He
befriended
Springbok’s captain
Francois Pienaar
(Matt Damon) and
inspired the rugby
team to be symbols
of hope and
greatness for the
new South Africa.
The Springboks
played inspired
Rugby after Mandela
got involved with
the team and grabbed
the attention of the
entire nation of
South Africa- white
and black- creating
one of the greatest
sports stories of
all time.
Eastwood did a great
job of taking a very
loaded story and
converting it into a
movie. There’s a lot
more than rugby in
Invictus.
This movie had to
show what went on
when Mandela was
released from prison
and when he was
elected. It had to
show some of the
white people’s
ignorance about the
new government. It
had to show how poor
the ruby team had
been playing, how
Mandela inspired the
team and how they
got better. It also
had to show Mandela
doing his job as the
president. There was
lot going on in the
movie and Eastwood
brought everything
together and made it
into one cohesive
story. With so much
involved in the true
story, making
Invictus
into a movie without
making it hard to
follow is its
greatest
accomplishment.
It’s
an Eastwood film so
of course it looks
great and it was
well made, but the
acting in
Invictus
is what sets it
apart. Matt Damon’s
South African accent
isn’t the greatest
but it was good
enough. He did a
good job playing the
strong/silent type
that is Francois.
Morgan Freeman is
wonderful as Nelson
Mandela. You can see
a lot of
similarities in the
two men’s mannerisms
in real life but
when you see Freeman
as Mandela he
embodies the man and
represents him on
screen better than
anyone else could.
The direction with
this movie was good
but the acting is
the reason to watch
it and that’s due to
Freeman’s
performance.
Invictus’s
extras are amazing.
The picture in
picture mode with
Eastwood where he
talks about making
the movie and what
drew him to make it
is the best that
you’re likely to see
on
Blu-Ray.
The feature with
Mandela and Morgan
Freeman is
outstanding and the
short film on Clint
Eastwood is
fascinating.
Invictus
is much more than a
sports movie. It’s
the story about how
sports can bring out
the best in
humanity. We see
glory and those type
of things in sports
movies but we rarely
see how sports can
bring together
people in this way.
Invictus is
another gem in Clint
Eastwood’s
filmography.
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