I went today to see the movie “Invictus”, a poem originally, and now a testimony to the history of South Africa, Nelson Mandela and the coming together of a divided nation by the winning of the Rugby World Cup in 1995.
When Mandela was released from jail in 1990 and then the ANC became the ruling party in 1994, violence and killing escalated, especially in the power struggle between Xhosas and Zulus. The majority of South Africans, white and black, and the whole of the outside world expected the country to go up in flames.
Mandela had the wisdom and foresight to see that sport could bring people together and, with the help of Francois Pienaar and all of the Springbok rugby team, they won the prestigious Webb Ellis Rugby World Cup and laid the foundations for a “Rainbow Nation”.
Well done to Clint Eastwood for telling the story and to Morgan Freeman for daring to play the part of Nelson Mandela.
Matt Damon was not physically big enough to convince South Africans that he was Francois Pienaar and Scott Eastwood didn’t ooze the confidence of a hero that slotted the winning drop kick in the dying moments of the game.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t restrain a tear or two of nostalgia remembering the glory of that moment.
