Invictus

Welcome to another episode of The "D" List.

Today's review is Invictus. Directed by Clint Eastwood. Written by Anthony Peckham. Based on the book "Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation" by John Carlin.

The word Invictus from it's latin roots means unconquered. It's also the title of a poem written by William Ernest Henley first published in 1875. It stood for never giving up in the face of adversity. To always hold your head up high when life brings you down to your knees. The word Invictus now has a new meaning.

In⋅vic⋅tus

-noun

1. Another amazing film made by Clint Eastwood.

2. Potential Oscar Winner.

After the first democratically run election in 1994, South Africa still remained divided racially in the financial and political sectors as well as the sports arena. In the "black" areas of the republic, soccer is the sport played and loved by the people. Across the road in the "white" areas, rugby reigns supreme. Aside from the obvious fact that the poorer areas of the republic have no idea how rugby is played, the national team is represented by a name (The Springboks) and colors (Green and Yellow) that were present during the time of white supremacist rule.

As South Africa's president, Mandela played by the incomparable Morgan Freeman is displeased by the racial separation throughout the republic and decides to use the power of sport to unite his home. He chooses the Springboks who are a very bad team incidentally to be the face of the nation. Mandela does this by inviting the captain of the Springboks Francois Pienaar played by a very beefed up Matt Damon, (he must have put on 10-20 lbs of muscle for this role) to tea. The meeting was designed to encourage Francois to lead the Springboks towards the 1995 Rugby World Cup championship.

I know this sounds like a typical hollywood sports hero movie where the underdog team rises from the ashes of mediocrity to become the unlikely champion. At it's core, Invictus is just that. What makes this movie different is the very real story behind it. This team did more than defy the odds by winning the world cup, they united a country that was torn apart by years of racial turmoil and unrest. The rugby is not the only way Mandela tried to create real social change. He implemented some unorthodox methods to get his message across. One example was including white officers to join his bodyguard detail. This caused immediate strife but it was Mandela's desire to show that if the president can't accept white people in his own house, how can the country.

This movie has all the elements of an Oscar contender. A well written script, well acted performances highlighted by 2 of tinseltown's finest talents and finally led by one of today's most revered filmmakers. You combine all of this and you might ask yourself how could this film be beaten? Well I for one believe it can and I will tell you why.

Now before I go through my reasoning I want to make it clear to all of you reading this. I loved this movie and I don't want it to appear that I am slamming it because I'm not.

The main reason why I feel that while Invictus is more than worthy of a Best Picture nomination but won't win is not because of the core theme of the film of the rugby team uniting a country in the face of racial division. There is no denying the fact that sports have the power to achieve great things in times of turmoil. Just ask any baseball fan after the 9/11 attacks. A simple game healed a country in a state of trauma.

It's the fact that I had no idea how rugby is played which put me in a cloudy state when the tournament scenes took place. The matches from a cinematic standpoint were shot, paced and edited very well. However, having no knowledge of the sport I couldn't tell when something good happened to the Springboks until you saw the cutaway shot of Mandela or the crowd cheering. It took away from whatever drama they were trying to build as the Springboks played each match while their country watched with eager eyes.

This may sound like a petty criticism but in my opinion it carries some weight. The scenes of triumph were very fun and uplifting to watch but they would have had more emotion behind them for me if I had more knowledge of how the game was played. Perhaps the addition of a play by play announcer to call the action might have helped. That aspect of the matches was missing. Eastwood chose to let the matches play out naturally with no music, just natural sound and ambiance. This was a fresh perspective when seeing a sports film but I think in this case the old school tactics might have served the matches better.

I know that the actual matches don't in any way affect the overall message that Invictus is sending the audience. I just feel that I was being cheated out of a much more satisfying conclusion because I was uneducated when it comes to the sport of rugby.

The bottom line is that Invictus was another well made film to add to Eastwood's already impressive resume. I just think it falls more in the Gran Torino category than it does the Million Dollar Baby category. Let me explain what I mean by that. While both Gran Torino and Million Dollar Baby were tremendous films made by Eastwood, MDB was an oscar winner while GT was critically acclaimed but missed out on the red carpet. I think Invictus falls into the GT slate. It's a great film that needs to be seen and is deserving of all the accolades it will receive. I just don't think it has that last bit of OOPMH to push it on the oscar stage. With the academy increasing the number of Best Picture nominees to 10 this year, there's no doubt that Invictus will get there. On a much better note. Freeman has a good shot at Best Actor and Damon for Best Supporting Actor and Eastwood for Best Director. This is something I have no reservations about.

On the 5 star scale. Invictus gets 4 stars with a "Worth Every Penny" recommendation.

Clint Eastwood has once again proven to the movie world that he can direct his ass off.

That's all for today.

My next review will be Avatar. James Cameron's latest and most talked about sci fi action adventure. Stay Tuned.

Until Next Episode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"