Review: "INVICTUS"

Despite being one of the most legendary and prolific actors in the world, I've always believed Clint Eastwood to be a much better director than an actor. Not that I'm taking away from his onscreen talent, but ever since first going behind the camera for 1971's Play Misty for Me, Eastwood made an indelible mark on Hollywood, setting an example for the directors to come.

But what amazed me most about his directorial career was how radically it evolved in the last twenty or so years. Early on, Eastwood was mostly known for directing westerns, cop films, or war movies (I suppose the umbrella term "action" would probably be synonymous with his early filmmaking days). But it wasn't until 1992's western classic Unforgiven that Clint delivered a film that was truly emotional at its core, relying on strong performances and powerful thematic material rather than just slambang, shoot 'em up action.

Not only that, but as the years passed, the subject matter of Eastwood's films became increasingly and surprisingly diverse, best exemplified by a consecutive string of films starting with 2003's terrific Mystic River, to Million Dollar Baby, the sister films Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima (the latter of which I believe to be Clint's magnum opus), the mystery-thriller Changeling, and the race drama Gran Torino. None of these films (not even the aforementioned Flags and Letters) resembled the man's earlier work, but rather symbolizing Eastwood's branching out into different genres and themes.

So it's only appropriate that his next film, Invictus, didn't even remotely seem like a standard Eastwood picture. Based on the non-fiction book "Playing the Enemy", which chronicled South African President Nelson Mandela's attempt to heal his wounded country by having the black and white citizens unite behind South Africa's rugby team during the 1995 World Cup, Invictus mildly suffers from the usual conventions of sports movies, but overcomes such flaws with two tremendous performances by the lead actors.

In 1990, Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman), imprisoned nearly three decades for his involvement in the anti-apartheid movement, is released from jail. Five years later, Mandela is sworn in as South Africa's president, despite misgivings by some white constituents. Regardless, Mandela pleads with the disenfranchised blacks of the nation not to give in to petty revenge against their former Caucasian oppressors. Despite his efforts to bring both races together, there's still plenty of tension, especially within his own office, where his all-black security personnel, headed by no-nonsense bodyguard Jason Tshabalala (Tony Kgoroge), is miffed by the inclusion of white guards.

Not long after his inauguration, Mandela finds an unconventional way of uniting South Africa: getting the country behind the South African Rugby team and rooting for a run in the 1995 World Cup. The problem, however, is twofold: first off, the team, the Springboks, have been on a tremendous losing streak of late; and secondly, most of the nation's blacks hate the Springboks, believing the team to be a symbol of apartheid-era oppression. Nevertheless, Mandela becomes passionate about uniting the nation behind the 'Boks, meeting with the team's captain Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), and encouraging him to lead the team by example. In time, the Springboks amazingly make a recovery, moving forward in the World Cup, with the entire nation behind them.

The problem with Invictus as a whole is also twofold: for starters, despite revolving around Mandela, too little effort is made in learning about the man's struggle and sacrifices during the horrors of South African apartheid. The film merely scratches the surface, and barely touches on Nelson's personal and family life (only one scene with his daughter gives only a little insight to such subject matter).

Secondly, in the climactic rugby tournament final, Eastwood falls into the difficult-to-avoid conventions of sports movies, most noticeably the usage of slow motion (which at times becomes very oppressive), tracking shots of hushed spectators, and the scene basically becoming a prolonged highlight reel of the match.

Thankfully, these are minor foibles when standing next to the terrific performances of Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. As always, Freeman is outstanding in his third collaboration with Eastwood (Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby, for which Freeman won an Oscar, being the other two). Freeman effortlessly captures the grace, dignity, and calm demeanor of Nelson Mandela, accurately painting him as a man entirely dedicated to reconcilation between the black South Africans and the white Afrikaans, risking his political reputation and even his life to meeting his goal.

Also delivering a solid turn is Damon as the captain of the Springboks, a man initially resigned to the consistent failure of his squad, but truly inspired by Mandela later on to not only bring his team together and lead by example, but to also make it their mission to inspire South Africa itself by its demonstration of teamwork and multiracial brotherhood. It's clearly a physically demanding performance for Damon (though I've never seen a full rugby match in real life, I've gathered from what I've seen that American football players have it easy compared to the padless hard contact rugby players endure), and Damon even pulls off a thoroughly convincing South African accent.

Even though it somewhat lacks the emotional power of Clint's previous Mystic River, Gran Torino, and especially Letters from Iwo Jima (not to mention a lack of explanation regarding the rules of rugby for stateside audiences), Invictus benefits from outstanding performances, proficient direction by Eastwood, and a rousing, uplifting finale that celebrates the merits of teamwork and national unity.

Letter Grade: "B+"