My Review: Invictus (8/10)

¨I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.¨

(8/10) Clint Eastwood is one of today`s best directors. He seems to have enough time every year to direct a new film and sometimes even releases two movies a year. Every film he directs seems to receive a lot of praise from the critics and audiences as well. Last year he directed two great films: Changeling and Gran Torino. He even acted in Gran Torino and was nominated for an Oscar. I don`t know where he gets the time to do all this, but one thing is certain he is a very talented director. His movies always end up in my top ten lists every year. Somehow in all his films he seems to bring out the best in every actor and many receive awards because of him, such was the case with Tim Robbins and Sean Penn who received an Oscar each for Mystic River and Morgan Freeman and Hillary Swank who received the same award for Million Dollar Baby. Invictus, Eastwood`s latest film, has already brought acting award nominations for Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman. Clint studies his projects very closely, he brings the best out of every actor and his films are always very powerful and inspirational. Invictus is a very inspirational movie as well, but it is so careful in being historically accurate that it sometimes feels more like a documentary about the South African rugby team. The movie might seem to follow the same basic clichés any inspirational sport movie does but the truth of the matter is that it is very historically accurate and it is exactly what happened.

Morgan Freeman has worked with Eastwood on many occasions in the past (Million Dollar Baby and Unforgiven) and he teams up with him once again to portray Nelson Mandela, the recently elected president of South Africa. Freeman had a difficult task ahead of him since he had to play a well known and recognized figure worldwide, but he was perfect and really fit the part. His physical appearance and body language was almost identical to the real man. Mandela rises to power during a very difficult time because the country is divided in two. On the one hand you have the white who have always been in power and oppressed the natives and on the other you have the natives who have recently found a victory through the election of Mandela as the president. Everyone expects Mandela to govern with a stern hand and have his revenge on the white people who have oppressed him and sent him to prison, but Mandela has a different approach. He wants to unite the country and put the past to rest, and in order to do so he wants the natives to forget the past and move on forward together. He leads by example and finds rugby to be the perfect instrument to unite the people. He decides to meet with the South African Rugby team captain Francois Pienaar, played by Matt Damon, and teaches him a thing or two about motivation and leadership. He expects the team to win the Rugby World Cup that they are hosting and finds this to be the perfect opportunity to reconcile any differences in the past and show the world that South Africa is a strong nation.

Invictus is a great film, but you are left with a sense that there could be so much more because the story is so rich and Mandela is a very inspiring persona. I still think Mystic River, Gran Torino, and Unforgiven are among Eastwood´s best films. Invictus is good and expectations are always high when Eastwood is behind the camera and that sometimes might hurt the film´s chances, but his movies are always a must see and this is one you won`t want to miss even though it hasn`t received as many nominations as his previous films. You cannot miss Morgan Freeman`s Mandela, it is just right on the mark and his performance is almost perfect. Matt Damon also brings a lot to the table and he is great as a supporting character. He put on some weight and got in shape so he has a real rugby player physique, but I don`t think his performance was good enough to beat Christopher Waltz´s performance in Inglorious Basterds. Morgan Freeman probably won`t get the Oscar either but he was great nonetheless. This movie is worth seeing because Clint Eastwood is behind the camera once again and his films are always outstanding. I hope he continues to make more movies every year as he has been doing these last couple of years because they always have an important underlying message and leave an impact in you even after you leave the theater. Invictus taught us how Mandela was able to unite a country through love and forgiveness when he had all the resources to act with hate and revenge. It also proves how sports can have an impact in society as well, as the Rugby team united the country for the first time in its history.