Invictus

[macwilkin]

This was a good movie. I was very skeptical as well but found that the movie was much more about the Rugby team and only grazed the surface of apartheid in a very vague way. I was young at the time of these events so I can't speak to the accuracy of the film but the story is told well and very inspiring. It's well worth the rental or being moved to the top of your queue.

The movie is actually based on the book "Playing the Enemy" by John Carlin, about how Nelson Mandela used the Springboks as a way to bring whites & blacks together in post-Apartheid South Africa. While the poem certainly inspired Mandela during his time in prison on Robben Island, it is only half the story. Mandela used the poem as a way to unite the country, and resisted the call of revenge against his former oppressors.

Lawrence James, in his "The Rise and Fall of the British Empire", quotes Mandela discussing his school days in Natal. Mandela credited the British school he attended with instilling in him a sense of democracy, and that he had not discarded the influences of British history and culture. (p. 629).

I too will be interested to hear Mike's take on the movie.

T.