Invictus

Just before Christmas, Marc and I went to see Invictus, a newly released movie about the 1995 Rugby World Cup final in South Africa. The movie stars Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon and is directed by Clint Eastwood. It was excellent. We loved it. Telling the story of a very significant event in South African history, Invictus was a tribute to Nelson Mandela, and a celebration of South Africa. It was a great story.

It was very significant that South Africa hosted the Rugby World Cup in 1995. Nelson Mandela had just become president in 1994 and the country of South Africa was very fragile. Tension was high between the whites and the blacks and people were afraid of violence and terrorism. Also, 1995 was the first time South Africa was allowed to participate in the World Cup in many years; other countries had banned South Africa from World Cup due to its apartheid in sports policy. Since Rugby was a "white" sport and had for so long symbolized dominance and discrimination against blacks, blacks were not at all supportive of South Africa's team, the "springbok" its logo, or its colours, green and gold. In fact, they mostly cheered for the opposing team at games.

Mandela used the Rugby World Cup as an opportunity to unite South Africa. He met with the team captain, Francois Pienaar and encouraged Pienaar to lead the team to win the World Cup. Definitely the underdog team, Pienaar and his managers worked the team hard and used the team as a means to unify the country. They learned the ANC Freedom Song which became the National Anthem of South Africa, participated in Rugby camps in the townships, and became a rally point for the nation. Finally, when the team had, against all odds, made it to the final game, Nelson Mandela greeted the players on the field pre-game, wearing the Green and Gold SpringBok uniform. The stunned crowd stood in silence for several seconds and then began to cheer "Nel-son Nel-son Nel-son!" The white spectators cheered for the black president. The South African team won the game and when Mandela once again entered the field to present the World Cup to Francois Pienaar, they erupted again, "Nel-son, Nel-son, Nel-son!".

Mandela said to Pienaar on the field, "Francois, Thank you for what you have done for our country." Pienaar responded "No, Mr. President, thank you for what you have done."

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The movie was a tribute to Neslon Mandela. It showed his dedication, his wisdom, his leadership and his unbelievable gift for reconciliation. It also was a celebration of Rugby and of South Africa. For me it was interesting to see people and places that I had read about on the screen and I kept on making comments to Marc about the significance of a particular building or event.

The 1995 Rugby World Cup effectively united the nation -- all people regardless of race or social status celebrated the event, and celebrated South Africa. The movie ends on that high note. In the stadium, the streets, the bars, everywhere, whites and blacks are hugging and celebrating their country. It presents a utopic, perfect picture of South Africa. A "they all lived happily ever after" feel. We know that this is not true, there is still incredible suffering, poverty and injustices in South Africa, the movie did not hint at any of this. Perhaps it should have. But it is true that the prediction of violence after the 1994 elections did not come true and a white counter-revolution did not occur. Mandela achieved his number one goal of reconciling whites to black majority. That is something to celebrate.