The Most Important South Africa World Cup – Invictus Review

I have traveled in Southern Africa several times for business, and I am always struck when I talk to South Africans about Nelson Mandela.  When talking to black South Africans, they look at Mandela as a hero and the father of their country, but they also have a more nuanced view and remain frustrated at some of the pothole-type problems that plague everyday life in their emerging country.

However, when talking to white Afrikaners about their former President, there is no nuance.  I have seen more than one Afrikaner slam his hand down on the table and say with their quirky phrase, “Full stop- the greatest man this country has ever produced.”

So how did this “convicted” terrorist who spent 30 years in prison emerge from his cell to seduce the white minority and build the most stable, multi-ethnic and economically thriving democracy on the African continent?

In his terrific new movie Invictus, director Clint Eastwood tries to answer that question by focusing on the 1995 Rugby World Cup.  Based on John Carlin’s book Playing The Enemy,  Eastwood’s Mandela, played brilliantly by Morgan Freeman, is a leader who has studied the white Afrikaner closely.  Mandela knows that in order to build his nation, he must find ways to break down white fears over being a minority and get them to buy into their new South Africa.

Rugby, a sport vital to Afrikaner culture and a symbol of the Afrikaner ideal of grit and manliness, proves to be the vehicle that Mandela needed.  An amateur boxer in his youth, Mandela understood the power that sport can have. From his jail cell on Robben Island, Mandela taught himself the Afrikaans language and would listen to the incessant conversations his jailers would have about the sport.  Upon emerging from prison, he advocated that the 1995 Rugby World Cup be held in South Africa and that international rugby end its boycott against playing the Springboks, the name of the South African national team.

This was not an easy concession for Mandela to enforce.  To black South Africans, the green and gold Springbok jersey was a symbol of white oppressive rule, and many blacks wanted the team renamed and the colors changed.  Mandela, who understood the deep attachment whites had for the team, fought this, and in one of the best scenes in the film, made a surprise visit to a meeting of the new South African sports ministry to prevent this change.  His portrayal of Mandela’s speech to these sports officials, both compassionate and calculating, is Oscar-worthy stuff for Freeman.

On the other end of this equation is the Springbok captain Francois Pienaar, played by Matt Damon.  Pienaar is a man who has spent his whole life thinking about rugby, and has probably never had an opinion about politics one way or another.  However, just as he seduced his prison guards, his prison warden, the Minister of Justice and eventually the last white South African President FW De Klerk, Mandela convinces Pienaar to enlarge his vision and use the team to help unify the country.

The problem is the Springboks are not a great team.  After years of being boycotted out of the rugby community, the team is outclassed when it plays internationally.  However, inspired by Mandela, Pienaar pushes the team in its training and its attitude.  The team embraces the black community that once feared it, and by the time the World Cup comes, the ’Boks are prepared and the country is behind them.

It is at this point that the film takes an extra pass or two rather than properly running the ball across the line for a score.  The rugby scenes themselves run long, especially the final game between the Springboks and the New Zealand All-Blacks.  Rugby is a difficult game to portray on film – it is better seen from afar than up close – and the actual final game was a tough slow war of attrition with few big plays.  Eastwood captures all the drama leading up to the game, including Mandela’s famous walk onto the field wearing Pienaar’s #6 Springbok jersey and the nearly all-white crowd chanting “Nelson, Nelson…”  However, the game itself seems to go on, and the ending for most movie goers was never in doubt.

The South Africa that is preparing to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup is a different place than the South Africa portrayed by Eastwood, Freeman and Damon.  It is a calmer, less dramatic and more business-like place.  The daily papers are more concerned with the value of the Rand than multi racial reconciliation.  For many South Africans, this summer’s World Cup will be a triumph of commerce rather than sport.  That is all as it should be.  Thanks to Mandela, Pienaar and the millions who put aside their grievances and embraced their new country, the life and death drama can just occur on the field instead of around it.

Tagged as: FIFA, South Africa, World Cup