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Invictus (Movie Review)

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.

"[This poem] taught me to stand up, when what I most wanted was to lie down."

These were the words of the late Nelson Mandela, a president who brought changes to South America. As portrayed by Morgan Freeman in the movie Invictus, he strives to cultivate racial equality in the apartheid-torn South Africa.This is a story of how a man who has been tortured and imprisoned, forgave his captors and went on to lead his country's rugby team to victory in the 1995 World Cup.

Invictus is inspirational, both poem (by poet William Ernest Henley) and movie. It encourages us to overcome hardship by constant endeavors towards success. It shows us how a single man brought great changes to his country. 

President Mandela, knowing that a love of sports transcends all boundaries, pours in his efforts to encourage Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), captain of the South Africa rugby team, to win the World Cup. When they finally did, President Mandela was proved to be right, when the entire country, regardless of skin colour, celebrated the victory in unity and became an undivided nation.

From the first moments in the movie, where on one side of the road, the rugby team is shown practising, and on the other, a group of ragged boys are playing soccer, serves well to portray how Africa is divided against itself. This simple scene, where well-fed, well-clothed people are contrasted with those who starve and are clad in rags, is a powerful one. It shows us the difference between the privileged and the not-so-privileged.

Even the President's guards, which originally consisted of black men, accepted new white members, all united in one mission; to protect the president. Though at first there is hostility among the two sides, they too bonded throught their love of sports and their desire to serve the president.

Invictus proves to us that no matter how different we look on the outside, at the heart of it all, everyone is the same.