Critics have questioned the accuracy of the film and whether one sports game could have made such a difference in a country divided for years. I believe that the film does go some length to showing that it wasn’t just the game of rugby or the ambition of Nelson Mandela. It was a time of reconciliation and forgiveness and was in fact followed in 1996 by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into human rights violations under Apartheid.
Invictus is an incredibly inspiring film based on an equally inspiring man and true events. Through great actors and his hallmark attention to detail, Clint Eastwood has brought a magical moment in history to our screens. This is a touching film and certainly deserved the several best actor, best supporting actor, and best director wins and nominations, most notably the Black Reel Award for Best Actor in 2010 for Morgan Freeman. Francois Pienaar stated in an interview this week that he cried the whole way through the first screening of the film, and I can certainly understand that. The film is emotionally charged throughout and extremely powerful.
While the film is excellent, the extra features about the film are mildly disappointing. They feature an Invictus music trailer and a six-minute featurette “Matt Damon Plays Rugby.” The features on the Blu-ray release are far greater and given the superior audio and video quality of Blu-ray, it might be worth moving over to that format.
Deducting points only for Freeman’s slight difficulties with Mandela’s accent, I give the film four-and-a-half stars.
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