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Capone says Clint Eastwood's INVICTUS is victorious…mostly!!!
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
My first thought after viewing director Clint Eastwood's latest noble stab at accumulating more Oscars was "That was a story told." And before I write another word, let me make it clear that I am absolutely recommending INVICTUS, the story of how recently elected South African President Nelson Mandela found a way to unite all races in his nation using a sport closely identified with the white Afrikaners that oppressed the black population for decades under apartheid. And while there was never any doubt in my mind that Eastwood could tell this inherently interesting story in the manner we have become accustomed from one of America's greatest storytellers, I felt the film was a touch on the dry side to really pull me in the way I wanted to be.
I go back and forth on this point, because there are absolutely times when I was immersed in this true story. Eastwood wisely lets the story unfold organically, with no artificial sweeteners. He's simply too good to ruin a great story with such ploys. And the screenplay from Anthony Peckham (from the book Playing the Enemy by John Carlin) is smart in making sure every nuance of Mandela's thinking and the team's playing is examined and made clear. For example, Peckham understands that most Americans don't know a thing about the rules of rugby, so he includes a sequence in which the almost entirely white South African team goes to an all-black township to teach the children the game. And guess who else gets to learn the basic rules of the game as a result of this makeshift rugby camp?
I have an acquaintance who has played rugby most of this adult life, and he has known about this story since it occurred in 1995 and about this movie since Eastwood picked up the gauntlet to direct it. He's given me his copies of rugby magazines with articles about the actual World Cup game and the film, so I was fairly familiar with these events walking into INVICTUS. And it's all there; Eastwood didn't miss a thing. He begins with Mandela (played to absolute perfection by Morgan Freeman) getting out of prison in 1990, though to his winning the South African presidency in 1991 in the country's first multi-racial election, to his first stepping foot in the presidential offices, to threats of riot in the streets and of assassination aimed at Mandela himself.
The film makes clear what I'd heard for years: Mandela was a man of great intelligence who knew that if he simply took office and turned the country around against white citizens, things would be as bad a when he was in prison. He began by asking the staffers who worked for former President de Klerk to stay in their jobs. He integrated his security detail so that his bodyguards were even numbers of blacks and whites. What a person's feelings about him or black during apartheid didn't matter to him (at least not officially); he focused on moving forward and he did so humbly and without calling a great deal of attention to his efforts.
For reasons that aren't entirely clear other than it seemed like a good idea at the time, Mandela became fixated on the South African national rugby team, the Springboks--a team that every white citizen loved and every black citizen loved to see get beaten by any opponent. The team had been barred from playing in the previous two World Cups (held every four years) as part of a stand against apartheid, but they were set to be eligible to play in the '95 Cup, the finals of which were to be played in South Africa. Mandela saw an opportunity to turn this divisive institution into something the whole nation could support--"One Team, One Nation" was the crew's new motto. Mandela first approached the captain of the struggling squad, Francois Pienaar (a bulked up Matt Damon) in a casual meeting, knowing full well that many of Pienaar's teammates, coaches, even his family were about as racist as they come. But Mandela also counted on Pienaar's gifts as a leader of men and his desire to see his team win the Cup. Together and separately, these two men effectively pulled a nation from the brink of collapse.
Freeman and Damon are only in a few scenes together, and lest you fear that this is the kind of movie in which a black story is filtered through the eyes of a white man, that is absolutely not the case. (If you want that, feel free to watch THE BLIND SIDE.) Quite frankly, the scenes they share are the least interesting in INVICTUS. Both are far more effective when they are doing what their characters do best--lead. There's a sequence in which the Springboks are taken to Robben Island, where Mandela was held for 18 years, and Pienaar stands in Mandela's actual cell, spreading his arms so that his fingers almost touch the walls. It's a gripping scene, and you can almost feel any remaining racial hostility bleed out of the players. Freeman is at his most compelling when he is playing Mandela as a humble man, fully aware that there is so much he needs to learn about rugby and leading a country. We're so used to seeing Freeman play men of reason and authority (both of which Mandela is), but to see him play a version of this man when he was at his most doubtful about his abilities is refreshing, and it reminds us that Freeman is more than just a voice and stoic face; he's terrific actor.
The final 30 minutes of the movie are devoted entirely to the World Cup match against New Zealand. And we've learned enough about everyone involved in that confrontation to understand the importance of Mandela walking into the Ellis Park in Johannesburg. Am I the only one who sees the irony in the New Zealand team's name being called the All Blacks? Anyone who says this film--even the final half hour--is a sports movie is truly missing the point. This is a film about politics, strategy, nation rebuilding, relationships, leaders and, yes, also rugby. I found the final match especially captivating because it was my first chance to test out my newfound knowledge of rugby rules. By this point in the story, we've gotten to know the players a bit, including those who were the last to really give in to Mandela's charms and the feeling they got from having both black and white spectators cheering for them. When the entire team sings the country's new national anthem (something most of them fought against when Pienaar first proposed the idea), it's a moment worthy of tears. There are actually several of those moments in the final act.
For all its spectacle and gravitas, INVICTUS (the title is taken from a 19th century poem by William Ernest Henley that served as a great inspiration to Mandela while imprisoned) is a film whose story is laid out simply and to the point. I never got the sense that Eastwood was heightening the drama or creating false moments for the sake of the movie. It wasn't necessary. The true story has enough imbedded drama for four movies. I was equally impressed with the two lead performances, although clearly it is Freeman's work that will garner the most attention (and presumably award nominations). But one should never sell Matt Damon short; the guy has given us two truly worthy and vastly different performances in 2009 (the other being in The Informant), and I honestly look forward to watching anything he's in at this point. While I'm calling out great performances, I should mention the best supporting role in INVICTUS, belonging to Tony Kgoroge as Mandela's chief of security. Kgoroge also did excellent work in the other recent South African-made movie Skin, but here he represents the face and voice of the new, evolving South Africa and someone Mandela looks to for a reality check on more than one occasion.
INVICTUS is pure and simple filmmaking, and with a story this compelling, that is all that is required. While I was not a fan of Eastwood's 2008 effort GRAN TORINO (after I only moderately recommended his other '08 effort, CHANGELING), his latest work is proof that the nearly 80-year-old director remains one of the greatest working today. Maybe this story made it easy on him; all he had to do was not mess it up, and he was golden. But I think there's more to it than that. INVICTUS is inspiring, rousing, moving and sweeping, all underscored with smart storytelling. I know it's got all the trappings and markings of Oscar bait, but sometimes Oscar bait actually deserves its accolades; INVICTUS is proof of that.
-- Capone
therealcapone@aintitcoolmail.com
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We were cheated in that damn final. Most of the team were laid low by food poisoning the morning of the final, courtesy of a dodgy buffet in their hotel the night before. The All Black coach from that time will go to his grave vowing it was deliberate sabotage by the South African Rugby Board. And the worst FUCKING part of it is, now us Kiwi's have to sit back and listen to moviegoers cheer on the FUCKING SPRINGBOKS, FOR FUCKS SAKE!! WE'RE THE GOOD GUYS, WORLD! THE ALL BLACKS REPRESENT EVERYTHING THAT IS GREAT AND GOOD IN RUGBY. NEVER FORGET THAT. I lick my lips at the prospect of any Yarpie responding to my post, so that I may hurl more insults.
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It is wildly known that the All Blacks were food poisoned the night before the world cup. Also the All Blacks had the greater battle to get into the final fighting much tougher opposition. I think Clint Eastwood is one of the most talented director today, but I do wander if this point will be addressed in the movie, or at least addressed to why it wasn't by the director itself.
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Players were poisoned? What players? Your team was basically Jonah Lomu!
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The poisoning is a documented fact. Why deny it?
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the trailer for this film. just curious?
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where lomu destroyed the english team. was one of the greatest games. I have ever seen. As was that remarkable, extraordinary, historic England Ireland rugby game in lansdowne RD after the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising. too bad it was all downhill for Eddie O Sullivan and his team after that. Declan kidney seems to be doing well. Brian O Driscoll is irelands greatest Modern Player.
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It's all white.
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Mandela is, to my mind, what Obama had the chance of becoming in America.
So many people pinned their hopes on this man, that it seemed impossible he could live up to the hype.
AND YET HE DID.
Compare that with the way Obama's presidency is going. Most on the right still hate his guts. And many on the left are finding that he isn't what they thought they were voting for.
I don't know if the movie will be successful in the states, because American audiences typically aren't interested in things outside their borders, or sports they are not familiar with. Which is a shame, because Rugby is a fucking great game.
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Good Lord, you lot are still harping on about food poisoning and "Susie" and all that crap? What's your excuse for 99, 03 and 07? And Ruddock, as for your assertion that NZ had the harder opponents, Japan, Ireland, Wales (when Wales and Ireland were rubbish), then Scotland and England is not even comparable to SA's route, which included defending champions (and favourites) Australia, a Samoan team more intent on injuring every Springbok than scoring points and a great France team that ended up coming third. Above and beyond the result, it surprises me (since I have a lot of good NZ mates who have long since moved on with grace) that you can't grab the significance of the tournament above and beyond mere rugby. And the less said about that moaning windbag Laurie Mains the better...
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He's no Ross O'Carroll Kelly. :p
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Rugby is a great game. if you want to hear a great rugby commentator. listen to Micheal Corcoran from Rte. the best radio rugby commentator in Europe. you will not find anyone as passionate.
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in South Africa lesbians are being abducted and corrected. and returned to their families. when the new president was asked what how reacted when he discovered that a girlfriend he had slept with had aids. Jacob zuma said he had a shower. disgusting.
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All white? Mtawarira, Ralapelle, Jacobs, Habana, Pietersen and Ndungane are all non-white (as is the coach). Unfortunately, rugby is a game that requires a quality infrastructure and training program from a young age in order to excel in, which is still unavailable to the majority of the population. Luckily, the powers that be seem to have realised that a winning team is far better for the nation than a quota filled one, and have done away with ruining young black players careers by pushing them into international rugby too soon. Look at SA's cricket team, which is almost half black or coloured now, to see the slow progress being made. Rugby was always going to take longer to integrate into the population. I don't think there's a true SA rugby fan anywhere who can't wait til the day the entire team is black and there on merit, so we can put all this crap behind us and work towards reclaiming our status as the best team in rugby.
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But I'll always be an adherent of the gospel of Keith Wood.
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player. He was a great team leader. It is heartbreaking that he never lead ireland to victory internationally during his time. But it was always very close.
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but I would like it if Trappatoni relaxed his system a bit. On the football side of things we need all the players we can get. I fully support the idea of getting anyone with irish ancestry to play for ireland. they would have to be vetted.
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Zimbabweans when to south africa where they were told to go back to where they came from.
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I though the element of hyerbole and self-parody was evident in my post. Most Kiwi's are more annoyed with the All Blacks than any other team, me included, stunned as we are by their ability to choke and play shit when it really matters. What concerns me most is that they will be portrayed as unstoppable killing machines for the purpose of this film. God knows, it isn't true, though I wish it were.
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...an unstoppable killing machine. Ask Will Carling. ;)
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Richard Loe, Olo Brown, Craig Dowd, the Brooke brothers, Josh Kronfeld (God, I miss him), and then Bunce, Little and Lomu! Killers to a man! As a Saffer, I remain convinced that NZ would have won (poisoning and all) if Michael Jones had played that World Cup. It's little remarked upon, but anytime we wanted to make a quick 5 metres, we gave the ball to Kruger or Andrews and they'd run straight at Jamie Brewers to set up an easy ruck and clean ball. Look how good the 96 All Blacks were when Jones came back and Marshall was scrumhalf...
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I meant Mike Brewer - Jesus, this early in the morning and that's where I'm at already?
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corrupt. go ask thiery henry and sept blatter.
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His style does nothing for me, as an actor though he is as engaging as ever!
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Current World Champs, Super14 Champs (Bulls), Won the 7's World Series, Tri-Nations champions 2009, 2009 Lions tour winners. The list goes on and on... Yip, we buggered it up on the End of Year tour but you have to lose some. Not that the Kiwi's believe that.... 'Suzie' this, 'Suzie' that.... Never proven and that is 14 years ago! What is the excuse for 2007? Bad frogs legs?! South Africans have great respect for the All Blacks (unlike the Poms and Convicts). The Kiwi's are the best team in the world, but you win some and you lose some. Stop moaning about cr@p, it makes you out to be sore losers. And if you still want to complain, the Boks beat the All Blacks 3 times this year! Long live the Springboks!
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Agreed! If the entire team was black but there on merit would we stop supporting them? Hell no! Do I cheer loader when a white player scores a try? Hell no! There is nothing more beautiful than Bryan Habana in full flight!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B__tYTKyJV0
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The food poisoning story is correct but frankly it serves the All Blacks right for eating a hotel buffet before the most important game of their lives. Most intelligent professional sporting teams would have taken their own food and their own chef – common practice nowadays.
Also, the reason the Springboks won was because: a)they completely altered their game plan for the final to incorporate a blitz defence designed specifically to counter Lomu. b) Joel Stansky's boot. c) It was the world cup finals – the All Blacks always choke. -
that prison DOES work. In the 20 years since his release, he hasn’t reoffended.
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Mandela was elected president of South Africa in 1994, not 1991.
And damn you kiwi's are a bunch of whiny C U Next Tuesday's -
I don't think it's fair to blame Henry. Yes he cheated but would we have complained if Robbie Keane had done the same thing (he tried on numerous occasions)? Henry is a cheat but the blame for the goal lies with the assistant ref who had a clear view of the incident and did nothing.
In the long term, it's clear that Blatter and Platini need to be removed from FIFA and UEFA respectively. They are preventing the game from progressing towards a fairer, honest system. The argument that video technology destroys the human element in the game is BS when bad decisions break the hearts of fans week in, week out.
Rugby has the technology, tennis has it, cricket has it, American football has it. It's outrageous that the most popular game in the world doesn't.
Heck I'd expect the GAA to implement it before FIFA and every Irish man knows how stingy the GAA is with cash. -
I fully acknowledge that Rugby will never be as popular as Football due to it's complexity and inaccessibility to most of the world, but I cannot for the life of me get into soccer (I've tried several times). The players are all whiny cheating white trash, the coaches are obnoxious self serving propganda machines, and FIFA has pretty much admitted that it has no interest in clearing up the problems in the sport as long as it keeps making money. Football is 90 minutes of players pretending they're hurt, Rugby is 80 minutes of players pretending they're not...
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Dec 11, 2009 6:45:15 AM CST
Love Clint and Morgan, but this is just an Oscar baited film!
by hollywoodhellraiser
Just like Blindside!
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the golden age will have gone. It will be a sad day indeed. Sure, this is Oscar bait, but if it's great it's deserved. If it's not I'd like to say the Academy won't be fooled, but who knows about their PC sensibilities.
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Dec 11, 2009 7:20:20 AM CST
Football is 90 minutes of players pretending they're hurt, Rugby
by v'shael
"Football is 90 minutes of players pretending they're hurt, Rugby is 80 minutes of players pretending they're not."
That's a fucking great definition.
I remember when Jurgen Klinsmann was a player. For those who don't know, this guy was the Marlon Brando of the football world. The De Niro. The Al Pacino. And every single referee knew it. They knew that he always dived, pretended to be severely injured, and won free kicks for it.
Every single ref would say "Well, he's not going to fool me!"
Then he'd perform some of the most elaborate stunt diving you've ever seen! To the point where the Ref would say "JESUS! That wasn't just a foul, you may have KILLED him!"
Then Jurgen would get up, uninjured, having suckered yet another ref.
The point I'm making is simply this. We've known since the days of Klinsmann that video replays were needed. Some players are just too good at fooling the ref. -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB7Y33VteME
It's Klinsmann at the world cup final in 1990.
He manages to get an opponent sent off.
Just watch the referees reaction. He is FURIOUS with the completely innocent player. Then watch the replay. -
Morgan Freeman flick without the image of him banging his step-Granddaughter. Too fuckin' creepy.
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of him banging his step-grandaughter, you'd be first in line a blockbuster video.
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Here is a joke about the football association of ireland. "Rugby is amateur game run by professionals. Irish football is a professional game run by amateurs". I think on the whole, the reaction to the france Ireland game was hysterical. but it was combination of two things Sour grapes and very dodgy ceeding. there were also allegations of dodgy betting. as for the french coach. He has the FFF wrapped around his finger. There was something very funny going on there.
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-to really pull me in the way I wanted to be."
And thus you've summed up my feelings on Clint's latest slew of movies since Mystic River. They just seem to be lacking that intangible magic that makes a movie really feel alive. I'm not gonna blame it on the Oscars, because I have too much faith in Clint than to think he only makes movies just to pander to the Whoreywood backslapping committee. Whatever it is, if this movie comes off with that same sterile vibe, I'm probably gonna end up just sticking to my Leone DVDs.
Nelson Mandela's story requires a far more vital and edgy approach than what I imagine old man Clint brings to this picture. I mean shit, the dude's probably never even heard The Special AKA's Free Nelson Mandela, FFS. -
It seems to me that an attempt is being made to keep small countries out of the world cup. Costa Ricca were ceded against a bigger country. portugal? and portugal got through. Back to watching District 9. Superb.
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and this I know is off topic. way off... CBB10 is happening. and some wag suggested MArtin McGuinness(Deputy First minster in Northern Ireland Exec and Ex commander of The Ira), Abu hamza and Ian Paisley.
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Fuck, it was epic. Such a great day. Madiba walking on the field with his Springbok jersey. I remember we were all so afraid of Lomu, but he could barely move during that game. The SA players would tackle him three guys at the same time; anything to stop that giant from bulldozing over us. Joel's final kick. First time I saw a white guy kiss a black guy. Pure joy.
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Amen.
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New Zealand was kind of a pioneer of racial equality in rugby. It seems like with this film South Africa is getting some credit they don't deserve.
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How old are you? England was the favorites to win. They knocked out Australia. New Zealand knocked out England. As for the rest of the world cups, New Zealand have made their mistakes but the fact is New Zealand's circumstances should be acknowledged. Did you watch the game, that wasnt the same team that fought their way to the final!
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New Zealand had France and Wales!!!! Cmon pal. South Africa was guaranteed a spot. Romania and Canada. And as for South Africa being underdogs? On what planet. No world cup true but still a team to beat. And the best player of that team during that world cup was a black guy. Bro you gotta be an aussie. Oh wait NZ just beat them to.
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and Massa's TB is all about politics and Eastwood's debatable greatness. Interesting.
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England were favorites to win??? What were you smoking back then? Everyone in England expected Lomu to run over our entire team. Sure we beat the World Champions, but we just had no answer for Lomu before and during the game. Sorry mate, but the Kiwis were the clear favorites for that one.
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Well known fact.
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Matt Damon is horribly miscast as Francois Pienaar. Pienaar was 6’ 3” and 28 years old when he won the world cup with South Africa. Damon is only 5’ 10” and pushing 40.
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Dec 11, 2009 6:47:09 PM CST
Massawyrm didn't like it, and he's not a retarded hypocrite
by manifestchaos
So I'm going to give this a pass.
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...be a hypocrite but he is a retard.
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All blacks became favourites around half way through. England was favoured to win prior to the World Cup. I was in Scotland at the time and was watching intensely. As for Lomu, no one expected what he could do, and that All Black versus England Game was the best game of the Cup and Lomu amazed the world. But if you watched the final, that wasn't the same team. You could tell.
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Agree with you on the final. As for England being favored to win the World Cup prior to tournament, I'll ask you this: Who WASN'T favored to win the World Cup? IIRC, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and even France all fancied their chances and all were considered favorites. Personally, I felt Australia was the team to beat prior to the tournament. Don't get me wrong, England had a great team that year, but not good enough to be considered the outright favorites, especially since we continuously relied on Rob Andrew to get our points due to our uncanny inability to get any tries (We had players who were capable of scoring tries, but we always seemed to struggle!)
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...have argued who should have won just remember this. The Springboks won! Not NZ, not England, not Oz so you all can fuck off already.
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I just wish that the food poisoning had been addressed. I mean it is fair to say now that South Africa really needed that win politically eh? And please don't get me wrong, I'm not an England supporter and unfortunately no one favored the Scot's.
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