MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

Invictus Rated PG-13

Directed by Clint Eastwood.  Starring Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman.

Photo © Warner Brothers Pictures
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

The story of former South African President Nelson Mandela (Freeman) is such a great one that it is something of a surprise to see the first major film about Mandela to be a sports-themed film.   But it is equally surprising to find so much to think about in this movie. 

Mandela was the leader of a resistance movement to the racist Dutch Afrikaner government (established in 1948) and its apartheid system.  Arrested in 1962 on charges of sabotage, Mandela served 27 years in prison before his release by President F. W. de Klerk. 

Eventually, Mandela would win the first democratic election in South Africa to become its president.  Invictus tells the true story about how Mandela decided to champion the Springboks, South Africa’s struggling Rugby team, in spite of the fact that it had only one black player and was despised by the majority of black South Africans. 

And, if this were not enough, President Mandela believed that the team had the potential to make it all the way to the rugby World Cup.  He begins a tentative partnership with team captain Francois Pienaar (Damon) to accomplish this goal. 

With the exception of Matt Damon (who is quite natural and believable as Pienaar), the cast is made up of British, Australian and South African actors and it is uniformly good.  It can be argued that the film glosses over many of the very real impediments to the nation’s healing (I’m sure that it was a lot messier than the story that this film portrays), but it has been a long time since I have seen a film with such spiritual depth. 

Mandela refused to believe in any way of reconciliation that did not also include a form of personal witness, and he was willing to place his life in service to a higher cause. 

It could be said that institutions will not change until those in leadership commit their lives to faith’s greater possibilities.  Such greatness can only come from God and a life of the spirit.  America (and the church) has much to learn from South Africa. 

Pitchfork Rating:
Five halos. (A moving story about forgiveness and reconciliation.)

Two picthforks. (For brief strong language and scenes of racism.)

COMMENTS!

Do you have comments about this movie or movie review? Email comments. (Your comments will be posted to our web site.)