Sunday, February 21, 2010

Invictus

Managed to get a DVD of `Invictus’ directed by Clint Eastwood. It is definitely a good movie but may not be the best of Clint. What sets it apart is the brilliant acting of Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela. I haven’t seen many other Oscar nominated films this year. But Freeman’s performance is worthy of winning a best actor Oscar. It reminded me of Frank Langella’s excellent portrayal of Richard Nixon in the film Frost/Nixon in 2008

It is a refreshing change for Matt Damon who has been appearing in a spate of action movies in the recent times like `The Bourne Ultimatum’. His acting ability is evident in the subdued manner in which he enacts the character of Springboks captain Francois Pienaar. A good candidate for best supporting actor Oscar .

The political turmoil in South Africa after the release of Mandela is relegated to the background and the focus is on the world rugby competition. Mandela manages to make the blacks forget the past misdeeds of the whites against them and support the South African rugby team in the world cup competition. To extract an entertainment value from such a theme is not easy but Clint Eastwood handles it well. But perhaps where he falters is the long drawn out rugby match scenes which are a drag on the tempo of the film especially as rugby is not a popular sport here.

Clint brings in lot situations for drama like initial rancour between the white and black security guards which later gives way to camaraderie,the surprise invitation of the South African rugby team captain for tea to the office of Mandela etc. Plenty of quotable quotes like ` Soccer is a game of gentlemen played by hooligans. Rugby is a game of hooligans played by gentlemen’, `I was thinking how a man could spend thirty years in prison, and come out and forgive the men who did it to him’... and "We didn't have 62,000 fans behind us, we had 43 million South Africans."

The title of the film was a mystery to me till I watched the film. It is the name of a poem written by English poet William Ernest Henley. Mandela used to read it for inspiration while he was incarcerated. He gives the poem to Pienaar before the start of the rugby world cup. Wikipedia says Mandela actually gave Pienaar an extract of Theodore Roosevelt’s ` the man in the arena’ speech..

Here is the poem Invictus which means `unconquered' in latin

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

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