Clint Eastwood’s most recent late year addition to the world of film is Invictus, an uplifting story of how Nelson Mandela used South Africa’s rugby team as the catalyst to unite their country following the end of apartheid. Unable to avoid racial trappings, Invictus manages to walk the line particularly well using Mandela’s security team, the almost all-white Springbok rugby squad and a divided nation to tell its story.
The title of the film comes from a short poem written by William Earnest Henley, which Mandela used as inspiration during his 27 years in prison. However, the film itself is based on the book “Playing The Enemy” written by John Carlin. Scripted by Anthony Peckham (Don’t Say a Word) the film deftly bounces between the work of South Africa’s newly elected President Mandela as played by Morgan Freeman and the Springboks and their captain Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon). While the goals of the two men are linked, the two share very little time together on screen. This can cause people to wonder if this is a sports drama or a biopic. It’s actually neither as much as it is an inspiring story of overcoming the odds, and in that sense it really works.
Walking away from Invictus I am sure most everyone will say something along the lines of “I still don’t know how to play rugby,” but at the same time I can’t imagine those same people not walking away moved and truly inspired.
Sure, Eastwood doesn’t make an effort to explain the ins and outs of rugby, but by the time the film is over anyone with any kind of sports IQ should be able to put the details together and have a pretty good idea of what is going on. However, I would say Eastwood could use some improvement in terms of how he shot the rugby scenes as the final match of the 1995 Rugby World Cup goes by at a snail’s pace. Considering the outcome is all but a foregone conclusion it seems to take even that much longer.
Along with Eastwood’s inability to bring rugby to life, the decision to use songs with lyrics spelling out the film’s plotline was very uncharacteristic of an Eastwood feature and a little too on the nose and formulaic. Eastwood typically stays clear of such trappings, allowing for his traditional softly played score to rise to the occasion when necessary, but a couple of times the music of Invictus was almost jarring, coming off as amateurishly mawkish.
Where Invictus really works is in the emotion of its story and when Eastwood hits the right notes he really hits them. Most notable is a scene when Damon steps into the actual cell Mandela was held in for nearly three decades, shuts the door and looks beyond the barred windows. Taking into consideration everything that has happened up to this point in the film, and the fact it is the actual location it really hammers home the film’s message and is so delicately portrayed without any grandiose build-up it’s hard not to appreciate. I thought it was picture perfect.
For that matter I thought Damon was as impressive as he could be, proving he is becoming one of Hollywood’s more reliable actors and is sure to stick around for quite some time. Freeman is also his reliable self, but as an actor he has already proven himself. It will be the day when Freeman doesn’t deliver that we will be cause for surprise.
Small complaints aside, Invictus stands out as a good film and one well worth your theatrical dollar. I have been up-and-down on Eastwood recently, but this one hits home with enough emotion to earn your patronage.
