The 1995 rugby world cup is only a year away. The South African team, known as the Springboks, have suffered a number of defeats culminating in a loss against England. Meanwhile newly elected president Nelson Mandela (Freeman) searches for a way to bring his nation together. Mandela looks to the Springboks for help, in the hope they will win the World Cup and therefore put an end the racial and economic divisions…

Nelson Mandela is the role that Morgan Freeman was born to play. Granted he sounds nothing like the former African president, but exudes the leader’s passion and strength in a performance which is subtle and less showy than you would expect. Overall it is a superb performance, one which should guarantee Freeman a nomination at the Oscars. I have to admit having never warmed much to Matt Damon in any film before, but his performance here is very strong, though he really is playing second fiddle to Freeman.

Director Clint Eastwood defies convention and delivers a biopic no one expected. As usual he applies the simplest approach to the material, which may annoy some purists who want to see a more in-depth biopic of Mandela. The choice to pick up Mandela’s life story at the beginning of his presidency is certainly an unusual one, but Eastwood manages to convey the sense of political tension superbly. The film is leisurely paced but is kept engaging throughout due to Eastwood’s usually assured direction.

The only thing which isn’t handled so well is the rugby scenes. Eastwood treats the action like an American football game, making it seem too fast paced with quick edits which adds a false sense of drama to the film. By the final showdown between Africa and New Zealand, Eastwood allows the game to take precedence over the story which feels lazy at best. It also doesn’t help being a true story that the outcome of the match is already known. There is the argument that there are a slew of historical inaccuracies in the film, but these are largely trivial, though there is one scene that sticks out like a sore thumb; Mandela asks for an explanation as to how the world cup works. Clearly this was done to cater for American consumption, though Americans themselves need not worry too much, as the showdown ultimately shows.

VERDICT:

Invictus is a great film helped along by a brilliant central performance from Freeman. The final fifteen minutes are typically vacuous for a sports biopic, but overall the cast and direction will win over even the most jaded viewer.

Movie Trivia:

The word "invictus" is Latin for "invincible." It is also the name of a short poem written in 1875 by William Ernest Henley, a British poet. The poem was written while Henley was in hospital having to have his stricken foot amputated. Mandela is heard saying lines from the poem.

The filmmakers wanted a well-known British actor to play Francois Pienaar's father and auditions were made from December 2008-March 2009. It was finally decided to cast a lesser-known South African actor instead.

According to Laurence Mitchell, the head of the Cape Film Commission, "in terms of stature and stars, this certainly is one of the biggest films ever to be made in South Africa."

Nelson Mandela himself has said that only Morgan Freeman could portray him. And so Freeman was the first actor cast.

To prepare for his role as Francois Pienaar, Matt Damon took intensive coaching at the Gardens Rugby Club under Chester Williams, who himself was a player in the South African rugby team of 1995.

Jonah Lomu is portrayed by Zak Feaunati, who was once a player of the Bath Rugby team and is currently ahead of Rugby at Bishop Vesey's Grammar school in Sutton Coldfield.

Morgan Freeman and his producing partner Lori McCreary had been developing a movie about Nelson Mandela (a.k.a. Madiba) for years. They were originally trying to adapt Mandela's autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom" but since the story spanned many decades it would be impossible to completely translate into a feature film.

Screenwriter Anthony Peckham is a native of South Africa, which gave him a special insight to the story's era.

Before production began, Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary made a trip to South Africa to get Nelson Mandela's blessing for the film. According to McCreary, Freeman started off by saying, "Madiba, we've been working a long time on this other project, but we've just read something that we think might get to the core of who you are..." Before he had finished, Madiba said, "Ah, the World Cup." For McCreary, that was "when I knew we were heading in the right direction."

Morgan Freeman, who has been a friend of Nelson Mandela for many years, prepared for his role as Mandela by watching some tapes of him to perfect his accent and rhythm of speaking. However, the most difficult part was Mandela's charisma, which could not be duplicated: "I wanted to avoid acting like him; I needed to BE him, and that was the biggest challenge. When you meet Mandela, you know you are in the presence of greatness, but it is something that just emanates from him. He moves people for the better; that is his calling in life. Some call it the Madiba magic. I'm not sure that magic can be explained."

Matt Damon made a visit to Francois Pienaar's home to ask Pienaar for assistance in preparing for his role. When Damon got to his house, Pienaar answered the door and for a few minutes they simply looked up at each other. Then Damon said "I look much bigger on camera." This broke the tension, and Pienaar prepared a gourmet dinner for Damon. Pienaar later claims he was impressed by Damon: "He's a great bloke. I was struck by his humility and his wicked sense of humor. He wanted to learn everything he could about me, my philosophy as a captain and what it was like for us in 1995. We also chatted about the game of rugby, what happens in training and about the technical aspects. We had a lot of fun."

Matt Damon informed Clint Eastwood about Francois Pienaar's distinct physique: "You know, this guy is huge!" Eastwood replied, "Hell, you worry about everything else. Let me worry about that." By structuring set-ups and camera angles, Eastwood was able to make the average-height Damon look about Pienaar's height.

The actors playing the New Zealand rugby team, the All Blacks, had to learn the traditional Maori war chant, the Haka, which is performed at every game to intimidate rival teams. Out of a sense of verisimilitude and respect, the crew contacted the New Zealand Rugby Association to make sure the Haka would be done correctly. They sent over a Haka expert named Inia Maxwell, who assisted in Haka/rugby training and was present when the Haka was filmed so that it was portrayed accurately.

Nelson Mandela's visit to the Springbok training camp was filmed in an area called Tokai (Cape Town). According to Clint Eastwood, when the crew arrived that morning they discovered some unusual spectators around the site: a group of baboons. "We had to wait until the baboons exited, but as soon as the players got out there, they would stay on the sidelines or up in the trees. They looked at us like they were wondering, 'What kind of crazy people are these?'" the director laughs.

The exterior scenes of Nelson Mandela's house were done at his actual residence in Johannesburg, while the interior scenes were shot in a home in Cape Town.

The president's office, where Nelson Mandela and Francois Pienaar first meet, was filmed in the offices of the Union Buildings, the seat of government in the capital city of Pretoria. It marked the first time any movie had been filmed there.

All the rugby games were filmed at Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium, where they had actually been played. Much of the stadium has changed since 1995, so James J. Murakami gathered extensive research to take the venue back to the way it looked, including the appropriate signage of the time. Computer graphics were later employed to complete the effect.

Nelson Mandela's personal assistant, Zelda la Grange, complimented the work of production designer James J. Murakami and his team: "I know the house so well and they recreated it to perfection. The environment even felt the same. And then I heard Morgan Freeman speak - I didn't see who it was at first - and I thought, 'Now how did Mr. Mandela get here?'"

When filming the games, there were only 2,000-plus extras in the stands. Using motion-capture techniques, the visual effects team was able to "sell out" the stadium with 62,000 fans.

Costume designer Deborah Hopper had to bring back the look of 1995 in regard to the Springbok uniforms, since the current team's outfits are not the same: "There is a lot of difference in the uniforms. In 1995, the shorts were much shorter and the jerseys were cut fuller and boxier. And the fabric they used at that time was cotton; now it's synthetic. We had to have the fabric specially knitted for us." Hopper and her team also had to duplicate the uniforms of the other teams, including the logos, many of which have also changed (in fact, the Springbok on the South African rugby team's logo is facing the opposite direction from the logo of 1995).

When the film came about, composer Kyle Eastwood was at a jazz festival in South Africa, so Clint Eastwood sent him to scout around and meet local music groups to see what he could find.

Nelson Mandela's favourite band, the Soweto String Quartet, was hired to work on the film.

During the making of this film, Clint Eastwood became a fan of rugby. While in South Africa, he would watch hours of rugby every night and come in the next morning and talk about the games. Eventually, he began to enjoy the games.

Nelson Mandela gave the Welcoming Speech of Rugby World Cup 1995 at Newlands and he was wearing a colorful shirt. When he is shot watching the opening game, he is seen wearing a tie. That day, the whole stadium chanted "Nelson, Nelson" setting the tone for the rest of the tournament.

According to movie critic Roger Ebert, the prison cell for Nelson Mandela that the South African rugby team visited was the actual prison cell where Mandela stayed for 24 years.

>>> WARNING: Here Be Spoilers <<<

SPOILER: Scott Eastwood, who plays fly-half Joel Stransky (whose drop goal provided the Springboks' winning margin in the final), is the son of director Clint Eastwood.

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