Film Review: Invictus

A film directed by Clint Eastwood

Based on the book Playing the Enemy by John Carlin

Review by Rob Hand

Invictus is a fascinating study of leadership with important lessons in forgiveness and reconciliation.

The movie is set in the mid-1990s, immediately after Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first black president. The country was bitterly divided following apartheid and there were justified fears of a traumatic outcome. White South Africans, mostly Afrikaner nationalists, feared a backlash from the new president, who they expected would lead the revenge of the black majority who had been brutally oppressed and humiliated for so long.

However, Mandela, played by Morgan Freeman, is not looking for revenge, but reconciliation – to the disappointment of many of his supporters.

Mandela’s priority is to find ways to demonstrate his willingness to partner with those who perceive him to be their enemy, apparently unafraid of the potential consequences. His first action is to retain white members of his presidential staff and security team who are already vacating their offices when the new president arrives for work.

To his supporters’ dismay, Mandela takes up the cause of the South African rugby team, a symbol of Afrikaner arrogance. He befriends Francois Pienaar, played by Matt Damon, the big-hearted team captain. At their first meeting Mandela askes Pienaar, ‘How do we inspire ourselves to greatness when nothing less will do? How do we inspire everyone around us?’ On leaving, Pienaar remarks, ‘He’s unlike any person I’ve ever met.’

Pienaar and his team visit the prison on Robben Island and find the very place where Mandela was incarcerated for 27 years. Pienaar’s response is, ‘How do you spend 30 years in a tiny cell and come out ready to forgive the people who put you there?’

While in that cell, Mandela spent a lot of time thinking and trying to understand his captors. He did a lot of reading, too, including Henley’s poem Invictus (Latin for ‘unconquered’), which includes the famous line ‘My head is bloody, but unbowed’.

Inspired by Mandela, Pienaar takes up the cause of lifting the country’s lowly ranked rugby team in the lead-up to the World Cup, demonstrating his strength of character and leadership by example.

Mandela shocks his compatriots when he appears at the World Cup wearing the green and gold jersey which had been a symbol of Afrikaner pride, despised by black South Africans almost as much as the apartheid flag. For the first time, black South Africans start to support their national team. In a stirring on-field performance by the Pienaar-inspired team, the Springboks pull off a remarkable World Cup victory on home soil. The celebrations shared by all South Africans mark the birth of the ‘Rainbow Nation’. Unification of South Africa has begun.

We know that the story of reconciliation didn’t end there and that deep divisions, inequality and distrust remain. We can only imagine what might have happened if it weren’t for Mandela’s extraordinary example of unconditional forgiveness as a prerequisite for reconciliation, even if that journey is often long and challenging.

Rob Hand is involved in leadership training through the BUV. Invictus is showing in cinemas now and is rated PG.