Invictus

Invictus

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Tony Kgoroge, Patrick Mofokeng, Julian Lewis Jones

Directed by: Clint Eastwood

Reviewed by: Conor Flynn







The 1995 rugby world cup is only a year away. The South African team, known as the Springboks, have suffered a number of defeats culminating in a loss against England. Meanwhile newly elected president Nelson Mandela (Freeman) searches for a way to bring his nation together. Mandela looks to the Springboks for help, in the hope they will win the World Cup and therefore put an end the racial and economic divisions…

Nelson Mandela is the role that Morgan Freeman was born to play. Granted he sounds nothing like the former African president, but exudes the leader’s passion and strength in a performance which is subtle and less showy than you would expect. Overall it is a superb performance, one which should guarantee Freeman a nomination at the Oscars. I have to admit having never warmed much to Matt Damon in any film before, but his performance here is very strong, though he really is playing second fiddle to Freeman.

Director Clint Eastwood defies convention and delivers a biopic no one expected. As usual he applies the simplest approach to the material, which may annoy some purists who want to see a more in-depth biopic of Mandela. The choice to pick up Mandela’s life story at the beginning of his presidency is certainly an unusual one, but Eastwood manages to convey the sense of political tension superbly. The film is leisurely paced but is kept engaging throughout due to Eastwood’s usually assured direction.

The only thing which isn’t handled so well is the rugby scenes. Eastwood treats the action like an American football game, making it seem too fast paced with quick edits which adds a false sense of drama to the film. By the final showdown between Africa and New Zealand, Eastwood allows the game to take precedence over the story which feels lazy at best. It also doesn’t help being a true story that the outcome of the match is already known. There is the argument that there are a slew of historical inaccuracies in the film, but these are largely trivial, though there is one scene that sticks out like a sore thumb; Mandela asks for an explanation as to how the world cup works. Clearly this was done to cater for American consumption, though Americans themselves need not worry too much, as the final ultimately shows.

Invictus is a great film helped along by a brilliant central performance from Freeman. The final fifteen minutes are typically vacuous for a sports biopic, but overall the cast and direction will win over even the most jaded viewer.