Review of Invictus

To be completely honest I really did not know much about Nelson Mandela before watching Clint Eastwood's Invictus. I knew that he was a man of great importance in South Africa who promoted peace, yet I did not know the sacrifices he made and all the things he did not only for his country but for the world. Invictus follows the Rugby team of South Africa in 1995 and its journey to attempt to win the world cup. The team is strongly supported by South Africa's newly elected president, Nelson Mandela, who understands that a national sports team is not simply for entertainment purposes but has the ability to unite a nation in turmoil. Everyone around Mandela can't understand why he places so much importance on Rugby, yet he keeps watching the games closely and gives the team extra support. For him the team symbolizes a change for South Africa, in which black people and white people can live in harmony. Though Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years by a white government, he holds no grudges and looks only to improve the future. In showing Mandela's greatness, Eastwood succeeds tremendously especially in casting Morgan Freeman as Mandela who portrays him realistically. Eastwood also succeeds in demonstrating the importance that a sports team can have in that it can give people a common ground despite differences in race, religion, and politics. A great sports team can make people proud of their country in a similar way to a college sports team making a student proud to be part of a university. Every aspect of this film is spectacular with the exception of the Rugby scenes themselves, which unfortunately take up the last 25 minutes of the movie. The problem lies with the fact that we've spent the majority of the film following Mandela and then we are expected to care about the team, but the truth is I didn't. The ending is drawn out way too long and the action of the game seemed boring to me (maybe its just I don't watch Rugby). Overall, I would recommend Invictus despite the uninteresting scenes of the Rugby match. Eastwood is one of the best directors in the business and despite not being his best work, Invictus is better than anything else being released right now.

RATING: 3.0/5