Customer Reviews

Invictus [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Turning a story with a sports theme into a good movie is often a challenge. Too often, the viewer is left with clichés. This is not the case with "Invictus". Clint Eastwood as director and producer has crafted a wonderful and moving tale. It deserves a wide audience.

The sport of Rugby Union is little known in America but the use of big name stars such as Morgan Freeman playing Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon playing the South African captain Francois Pienaar works well. They were both truly convincing. Damon in particular seemed to master the Afrikaans accent.

"Invictus" is touching. I frequently found myself almost moved to tears. The story of how Mandela was able to look beyond simple revenge and move forward in the spirit of reconciliation was uplifting. If only other nations could follow this example. Mandela had much to be bitter about but proved that he was a bigger man. In this way, he further condemned apartheid to the dustbin of history where it belongs.

Many people will know the story of the 1995 World Cup. South Africa as the host nation rose from the ranks of relative easy beats to become champions. However, in Clint Eastwood's hands we are provided with more than a simple tale of underdog victory. This is a very tired story. Instead, Eastwood homes in on both the bigger picture and the touching interplay between Mandela and Pienaar. Eastwood is getting better with age. When most men are in retirement at his age, he continues to dazzle. He is an inspiration himself.

Go see this film. Your effort will be rewarded.

I am a South AFrican and was outside the stadium when the final game in the movie was played. This was a real event. Only someone who was there can tell you the emotional impact of that game and what Nelson Mandela and Francois Pienaar (captain of the Springbok rugby team) achieved. For several hours after that game there was not a single crime in South Africa. The whole country united as one to spur our team on. I, unfortunately, did not attend the actual game but I was outside that stadium and the fellowship and goodwill that emanated from it had to be experienced. I went to see the movie with my youngest daughter here in the USA. She was only 8 years old at the time of that game. She could well recall the impact of the emotion and, for me, it was a pleasure moment relived. The movie did it justice and the two actors performed very well in their roles as two South Africans. I loved the movie and definitely want to see it again. Always a South African. We are a nation of such spirit.

What a powerful story, a remarkable leader, and incredible direction here. Invictus is the true story of Nelson Mandela and the '95 Rugby World Cup.

Eastwood easily could have pulled on the emotional strings and presented the harsh realities of the apartheid in South Africa. He also could have appealed to any impatient movie watchers by inserting graphic details of the grueling years of captivity Mandela endured. But instead this story begins immediately after he was released from prison and is elected president. He has the daunting task of rebuilding the country after the fall of apartheid. Could sports really help a country unite?

The acting here is impeccable. Morgan Freeman has turned in tons of great performances, but never has he felt more perfect for a role. Plus Matt Damon did great with his accent and mannerisms of the team captain.

I was very impressed with the actions and words of Nelson Mandela. He reminded me of Mahatma Gandhi. Despite his lengthy imprisonment and his country's animosity that lingered from the past, he refused to act out of hatred.

"THIS IS NO TIME FOR PETTY REVENGE"

This film never gets too political. It focuses more on human relationships and the country's underdog rugby team. Invictus is an extraordinary true story about the power of the human spirit. A movie not to be missed

I don't know South African history or the rules of rugby. I do know that I thoroughly enjoyed Invictus. This is a feel good movie of the first degree. There is no villain. Everyone gets along. No crime in the streets. No racial antagonism above a whisper. Although I've never been to South Africa, my guess is that the sweetness of the movie is unrealistic. I don't care. This movie portrays the world at it's best. It lifts the heart. I had a wonderful time. Maybe Mandela wasn't such a great guy. But the Mandela in this movie is the Mandela I want to believe in. I want people to watch this film, be inspired and pass the inspiration along. I hope I can.

This is a very good and moving story. After spending 27 years in a very small cell in South Africa, Nelson Mandela was released and he was elected president of his country in 1990. But he had a serious problem. Not only he, but all the blacks in South Africa had been despised, oppressed, and terribly mistreated their entire lives. Many lived in dirty unhygienic shacks. They were poor. They were very angry. The whites retained their prejudicial attitudes. They kept their idea that they were superior. They believed that only they could rule the country. They felt that "ignorant blacks" would ruin their land.

How could the new president unite the people of his country? How could he start afresh? What could he take away from the white oppressors without increasing their anger? What could he give the blacks? How could he inspire his nation? How could he get the world to respect South Africa?

Nelson Mandela devised the idea that he might unite his people by having both blacks and whites join together in hoping that the South African Rugby Team would win the 1995 World Cup. But the problem was that the team was not that good. How could he improve the team? This movie tells the story of what he did and the results.

Leaving the movie description to other more able reviewers, I won't repeat anything. Let me just say I am seeing it for about the fifth or sixth time and my eyes still well with tears of emotion when I see that troubled nation magically changing by the sheer will of the great statesman Nelson Mandela. He managed to draw all peoples together and change the flag and the nation to multi-color, and he managed to win the Springboks over before they won the 1995 World Cup. If I could be granted a wish to have been anywhere in the past 20 years, it would be attending that great game in Ellis Stadium in Johannesburg, the last bastion of Afrikanerdom, just to watch that game, the mighty Springboks versus the feared New Zealand All-Blacks (so named after the color of their uniforms). I'd see the old Boer "bitter-ender" descendants of hard-line Afrikaner voortrekkers playing rugby and fathers and sons of apartheid hugging and being hugged by peoples of all colors and persuasions during and after the game when their countrymen won the World Cup. I'd hear people of all tribes, colors, and religions cheering and shouting Mandela's name and see that game. I'd hear alack, white, and every color of men, women, and children sing "Nkosi Sikelele' iAfrica", the cherished song of black freedom. The film is true to life by director Clint Eastwood. But oh to be in old J'burg just to see the Springboks win the World Cup Rugby and the great president Mandela in his Springbok jersey and cap, smiling from ear to ear, as he presented the World Cup to the Captain of the Springboks, which by his sheer force of will he made the whole country's team, no longer exclusive to Afrikaners.

Immediately after seeing this movie I googled Francois Pienaar and got him on You-Tube talking to and about Mandela and ended up buying the book "Playing the Enemy", by John Carlin, which moved me even more. It reassured me of the authenticity of the film. The 'Boks winning that day was the crowning moment for South Africa not just in sporting events but the culmination and beginning of Mandela's "One Team, One Country" idea which both shocked, surprised, and pleased all citizens (mostly themselves) by their own reactions.

President Nelson Mandela is played most ably by Morgan Freeman,and in voice, accent, and and gesture--he is authentically Mandela). Francois Pienaar, the Afrikaans Captain of the Springboks is played by Matt Damon (of Bourne fame) with a very authentic Afrikaans accent and a fierce rugby-playing skill, though only 5'11" not 6'4" is very believable and played a strong Captain. He was big in soul and a convincing Captain and you could see Damon was playing great rugby. I'am sure the real Pienaar was pleased. The first meeting between Pienaar and Mandela, like everything in the film, is based on fact. I had no inkling that these incidents had ever occurred. How I managed to miss this is beyond someone who has been following South African politics and reading all she could since the mid-sixties. But this film is about more than a game, it is the magic of Mandela and his shrewd and wise perception that sports can be a uniting force, and he played it for all it was worth, and the beginning of a great, united South Africa came to be, and at a very pivotal point in South Africa's history.

Of course there is much more than the Springboks game involved in this film. As in real life, there was more to Mandela's presidency ending apartheid, and his most herculean task was to draw all peoples together in a spirit of forgiveness, redemption, and the Afrikaner Springboks represented all Afrikaners in this effort, and that was key in succeeding. Mandela believes that sometimes in order to create a new nation people have to work with people they don't like, or even trust!

In the film, Mandela gives a poem to the Springbok Captain. "Invictus", the famous poem by William Ernest Henley and though it's not mentioned in Mandela's own autobiography or even in the book "Playing the Enemy," Eastwood takes a liberty by making it Mandela's comfort and strength while in prison. It may well have been so, as it is for anyone who lives under such horrible conditions.

Please, please, if you like the film, buy the book on Amazon, as well. It is even better to read and savor. I will be reviewing the book as well.

Invictus is a movie that presents two interwoven themes: The beginnings of the reign of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa, and the story of the rugby World Cup of 1995. The pace is rapid and the tone tense, as Mandela has inherited a country burning with racial tension and on the edge of civil war.

Nelson Mandela, played brilliantly by Morgan Freeman, begins his attack on his nation's problems his first day. His message is clear. South Africa is one nation, one people, who must work together for the good of the country. As Mandela arrived for his first day, the government employees of the previous administration were packing to leave. Mandela asked them to stay and help the country heal. This set the tone of his plan.

Meanwhile, the Springboks, the South African national Rugby team was adrift, not knowing their fate. Mandela sought out the team captain Francois Pienaar, (superbly played by Matt Damon) to ask his help building a first rate world cup team. A surprised Pienaar agrees.

Mandela's focus upon the national rugby team projects a message of reconciliation for the nation of South Africa. Mandela asks his people to follow that model. Mandela sets the example by learning the names and backgrounds of every member of the rugby team. He visits some practices, tells the team that the entire nation supports them, then approaches each man, calls him by name and thanks him for his help.

The title of the film "Invictus" is taken from a poem by William Ernest Henley. The lines of the poem inspired Nelson Mandela when he was in prison for 27 years. Several of the verses relate to the film.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.


"Invictus" is an excellent movie that is well directed and well acted. It presents world events that most Americans never witness. I highly recommend this film.

Rugby is an unknown game in America. Clint Eastwood directs Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as the captain of a rugby team. It is set during 1995 after Mandela release from prison, presiding over a South African Nation still in turmoil in trying to balance white apprehensions with black ambitions. To help unite the country Mandela seeks allies in the most unlikely places...Springboks, the rugby team. Mandela reaches out to the captain of the rugby team and asks him to help him unite the nation. So they go on to beat the most dominant team All blacks and heal a wounded nation. A little known fact about the victory and believed by many people is the fact that the All blacks lost because half the team was suffering from food poisoning.
I thought the acting was very good, both Freeman and Damon fit in to their roles perfectly. Eastwood directs this one. I loved it and I think deserves four stars.

A snapshot into the beginning of Nelson Mandela's presidency, newborn on the heels of an oppressive and unjust prison sentence of 27 years. Clint Eastwood's portrayal of South Africa's civil unrest and racial division became the backdrop for presenting a portrait of the incredible heart of Mandela that was capable of leading the country in the course of forgiveness and unification. Mandel learned first-hand through his own meditative process that he could let goodness could conquer his own heart. Once done personally, he could lead a movement with great dignity that could prove to be invincible by others.

Shows there is no substitute for leadership. There is no true leadership without integrity. Leadership means doing first, the difficulty of what you want others to follow you in doing.

Great selection of Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. Great acting by both.

I have loved Clint Eastwood's acting. I now love his directing.

In 1994, Nelson Mandela assumed the presidency of a racially divided South Africa. He preached forgiveness and reconciliation in the new democracy.

In South Africa, the national rugby team was beloved by the white minority and hated by the black majority. Mandela decided that changing that animosity would be the catalyst to uniting the country. To do that, the host nation had to win the 1995 World Cup.

Starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon (and directed by Clint Eastwood), Invictus is a truly inspirational story that transcends sports and politics.

Did you know? The movie's title comes from a William Ernest Henley poem that inspired Mandela during his imprisonment. You can read more about the true story in Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation by John Carlin.