INVICTUS
Let me begin this discussion by saying that I was a fervent divestment protester in the 1980s and although have never visited South Africa, knew many ANC members when they were still labeled by the white government as terrorists. I was jubilant, beyond jubilant, it was a incomparable moment of liberation for all of us when Nelson Mandela was released from Robben Island prison after 27 years. Mandela is a saint-like figure, in the category almost like Ghandi and Martin Luther King who so inspired him, a model for the power of forgiveness. So making a movie with him is a difficult task. But then this film isn’t really about Mandela, it’s about one decision he made with regards to the Springboks, a symbol of and cherished team of the white minority under Apartheid.
As dramatized, Mandela (Morgan Freeman) decided that instead of eliminating the team which the sports council as well as the newly empowered black majority wanted to do, he would try and use it as a unifying instrument: a way to demonstrate that whites wouldn’t be tossed out (see Zimbabwe) as well a sports team around which the whole nation would finally rally, to root for. Mandela invites the team captain François Pienaar (Matt Damon) to tea and gives him a great big dose of inspiration and the rest is history.
Clint Eastwood is a highly skilled director, a constructor of inspiring and dark images and perhaps he does the dark best. From Play Misty for Me to Mystic River his most compelling films as both an actor and director have plumbed the depths of tragedy or mental illness or both. But although the circumstances of South Africa are tragic, this little story is not: it’s a story of triumph with very little down side and although it’s a very good film, it lacks the greatness that one would associate with a figure like Mandela.
Despite the incredibly difficult political situation that Nelson Mandela was managing in 1995, the film is dominated by the David vs. Goliath sports story. In truth, by the final the Springboks hadn’t lost a match in over a year and they had in their long history been a dominant team although banned from World Cup competition since the 1980s. But they were not favored to beat either Australia or New Zealand. The sports movie climax, the big game, is then the World Cup final where the the South African team has to deal with the All Blacks as the New Zealand team has been called for over a century.
So here’s the problem for me. Eastwood made the choice to include the Haka which is a traditional Maori chant that has been performed at the opening of rugby matches by the New Zealanders since the 19th century. Unfortunately for the aims of the film, this performance is so exciting and compelling that it’s the thing that most sticks with me about the film. It’s compelling not only because of the performance itself but because you are watching a team that includes indigenous peoples and whites perform a Maori ritual face a team with one black member whose history, although not at all polar opposite was significantly different. I almost, kind of wanted the All Blacks to win right then and there.
This is perhaps mostly a testament to a certain blandness of the film. Perhaps, as suggested above, certain topics and certain figures are so sensitve, touchy, controversial, that they can only be approached tentatively, with kid gloves. And kid gloves while soft to the touch and delicious to wear, simply aren’t exciting and dramatic. This approach to historical events may be lovely and sincere and honorable and noble, and then drained of the negatives like tension which we like in drama. Apparently in the real final there was some tension when the All Blacks came down with a case of food poisoning two days before. This was intially dismissed as sour grapes by the South Africans, although the New Zealand coach never cited it as an excuse. In 2000, however, one of Mandela’s security guards did indeed confirm the food poisoning story which later blamed on a criminal syndicate. Now that would have been drama.
Invictus is currently in theaters.
Directed and produced by Clint Eastwood; screenplay by Anthony Peckham based on the book Playing the Enemy by John Carlin; Director of Photography, Tom Stern; edited by Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach; music by Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens. Released by Warner Brothers.
With: Morgan Freeman (Nelson Mandela); Matt Damon (François Pienaar); Tony Kgoroge (Jason Tshabalala); Patrick Mogokeng (Longa Moonsamy); Matt Stern (Hendrick Booyens); Julian Lewis Jones (Etienne Feyder); and Adjoa Andoh (Brenda Mazibuko).
