Invictus (2009)

Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Morgan Freeman

***1/2

In the hands of a lesser director, Invictus would be overly inspirational and likely two separate stories. Clint Eastwood, being the master storyteller that he is, combined with some effortless acting by both Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as the national rugby team's captain Francois Pienaar, takes the seen-before story of sports bringing together a nation and makes it much more than just that.

There are in some ways, two stories being told here. The first is the story of Nelson Mandela but its not really the story of Mandela one would expect as it begins upon his release from prison. As a result, I still don't know why Mandela was in prison and remain confused as to how and ex-con could immediately be elected president of a nation. For this film, its not really important. What we're presented with is Mandela taking leadership over a nation that is divided. His first appearance at the rugby stadium is greeted with a mixture of boos and cheers, quite the contrast to how he's greeted at his last of the film.  The other story surrounds Francios Pienaar.  He too is challenged with leading, for him however, something on a much smaller scale. The impression I got was that the national rugby team, the Springboks, is not very good and they don't seem to have a coach (which is good because I didn't want to watch another movie about a coach bringing a team together for the greater good). Evidently however, they are good, they are just underachieving, they're not working together perhaps. By working as one, they can accomplish so much more.  And there in lies the message Mandela intends to spread throughout his nation by use of its common interest in sports.

Mandela preaches repeatedly that their nation needs inspiration and that it needs to be brought together. We believe this for two reasons. We see the different cultures, particularly the differences between races. Additionally, when Morgan Freeman tells us something, we believe him. Unfortunately, we don't really see any real convincing evidence as to why the country needs inspiration.  I, like I assume many audiences of this film, are not completely familiar with the goings-on in South Africa in the mid 1990s, therefore I couldn't embrace the real need the country had for inspiration. Either way, the story being told is a good one, so the reasons become less important. The story worked, even if it wasn't 100% complete.

The movie doesn't feel divided.  The Mandela story and the Pienaar story combine seamlessly and work together to make the movie work as a whole. Rather than having two stories running simultaneously and attempting to force connections between the two, Eastwood blends them, making them function integrally.   I always give enormous credit to Eastwood but equal credit is due to his actors in this film.  I'm not sure this is Matt Damon's best performance but it is the first of which I've been able to accept him as his character rather than as Matt Damon playing someone else. This is far from Freeman's best but he continuously makes acting look so easy. He becomes his character for so many reasons beyond the accent he employs.  Flashes of him in prison don't even raise thoughts of The Shawshank Redemption because he's so far from that character.

Invictus isn't anyone's finest work but it is a well above average film with well above average performances.  I anticipate Eastwood films as much as any other director and if less than great films like Gran Torino and Flags of our Fathers can't change that, then Invictus certainly won't.