Rating: * * *
Verdict: Freeman's Mandela is something but rugby is not the winner on the day.
Anything critical said from this part of the world about Invictus is sure to smell of sour grapes. After all, we lost, they won and South Africa's 1995 Rugby World Cup win became a national epiphany.
Clint Eastwood's stolid film certainly captures the elation of the post-apartheid South Africa after winning that stodgy game. But it frequently undermines its efforts to be a portrait of Nelson Mandela, as well as a rousing sports movie with some deeply phony touches, both on the field and off. And it frequently drops the ball with outbursts of leaden dialogue seemingly written for the comprehension of cauliflower-eared props suffering mild concussion.
Old master Eastwood proves himself the latest in a fairly short line of directors who have failed to make rugby look interesting on the big screen. The repeated shot-from-below of a scrum engaging can only get you so far and any resemblance the actors have to rugby players famous or otherwise is purely coincidental. That's Jonah? Really?
Predictably, Freeman relishes his long-awaited chance at playing Mandela, having warmed up by playing God once or twice in previous movies.
His absorbing performance does give us some sense of the man behind the Great Leader, who treated his former oppressors with a remarkable grace and forgiveness. But the screenplay - based loosely on John Carlin's insightful book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela And The Game That Changed A Nation- can't help but strip out much of its political nuances.
Instead we get repeated scenes of Mandela's bodyguards, made up of ANC acolytes and white cops, trying to get along, and lots of shots of the Springboks out jogging or teaching rugby's strange rules to poor township kids (and American audiences).
Having established who's who, the rest focuses on Mandela, who figuring rightly that a cup victory in the sport so dear to the Boers will unify the country, becomes a sort of Obi Wan Kenobi to Springbok captain Francois Pienaar.
Matt Damon acquits himself well in this role but his and Freeman's best efforts can't save Invictus from being a plodding history lesson for folks who weren't interested at the time.
Cast: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon
Director: Clint Eastwood
Rating: PG
Running time: 133 minutes
