Predictable and manipulative, “Invictus” is a
movie Clint Eastwood could make in his sleep. Despite that — and judging from
this often inspiring if generic sports drama — he was too professional to ever
sneak in more than a nap.
It begins with the day Nelson Mandela was released from
prison, but is mainly about his efforts to unify black and white South Africa
after his election to the presidency. His solution is Hollywood-simplistic.
Make the national rugby team, the Springboks, hated by blacks as a symbol of apartheid,
into all of South Africa’s team. And when the world comes to South Africa for
rugby’s World Cup in 1995, show everyone a nation coming together behind a
sports team.
Morgan Freeman takes on Mandela and Mandela’s charm, showing
Lincolnesque dignity, the simple good manners that helped calm a bitterly
divided populace.
“The rainbow nation starts here,” he tells white
civil servants, asking them to stay on the job. “Reconciliation starts
here.”
His gestures, he knows, won’t be enough. That’s when he
locks in on the embattled rugby team, led by Francois Pienaar. Matt Damon, with
a rugby player’s build, ennobles this star athlete, making him symbolic of
white South Africans who accepted the change in power. The team isn’t great,
but if they get better in time for the World Cup, they could help the nation
heal, Mandela suggests. Pienaar gets the message, and we settle into the
classic “Big Game” sports movie headed toward that defining moment of
truth on the field.
The title comes from a 19th-century poem Mandela memorized
during his decades as a political prisoner — “I am the master of my
fate.” Eastwood doesn’t beat that to death, sparing us the obvious
“Win one for Mandela” speech. But that’s the only cliche he avoids in
“Invictus.”
Mandela is made saintly — a statesman who speaks in slogans.
Black-and-white tensions are mirrored on his security detail and Eastwood never
shies from showing a black bodyguard paired with a white one, exchanging grins at
the Springboks’ latest glory.
But Eastwood, returning to race as a theme, has made a
timely film about a nation of many races rallying around a leader who
understands symbolism.
“If I can’t change when circumstances demand it,”
says the newly formed First Fan of the Springboks, “how can I expect
others to?”
Heavy-handed, with eye-rolling moments in the middle acts as
Clint slides a little limp pop music into the training montages,
“Invictus” still works as another Warners feel-good movie with sports
as its backdrop, a touching story that could hit on your blind side if you
aren’t too cynical to let it.
Invictus
2 1/2 stars
Cast: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon
Director: Clint Eastwood
Running time: 2 hours
Industry rating: PG-13 for thematic elements and brief
strong language
