Invictus (film)

Invictus is a 2009 AmericanSouth African biographical sports drama film directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. The story is based on the John Carlin book Playing the Enemy Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation about the events in South Africa before and during the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which was hosted in that country following the dismantling of apartheid. Freeman and Damon play, respectively, South African President Nelson Mandela and Franois Pienaar, the captain of the South Africa rugby union team, the Springboks. Invictus was released in the United States on December 11, 2009. The title refers to the Roman divine epithet Invictus and may be translated from the Latin as undefeated or unconquered. Invictus is also the title of a poem by British poet William Ernest Henley 18491903. The film was met with positive critical reviews and earned Academy Award nominations for Freeman Best Actor and Damon Best Supporting Actor.

While attending a game between the Springboks, the countrys rugby union team, and England, Mandela recognises that the blacks in the stadium are cheering for England, as the mostlywhite Springboks represent prejudice and apartheid in their minds he remarks that he did the same while imprisoned on Robben Island. Knowing that South Africa is set to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup in one years time, Mandela persuades a meeting of the newly blackdominated South African Sports Committee to support the Springboks. He then meets with the captain of the Springboks rugby team, Franois Pienaar, and implies that a Springboks victory in the World Cup will unite and inspire the nation. Mandela also shares with Franois a British poem, Invictus, that had inspired him during his time in prison.Franois and his teammates train. Many South Africans, both black and white, doubt that rugby will unite a nation torn apart by nearly 50 years of racial tensions, as for many blacks, especially the radicals, the Springboks symbolise white supremacy. Both Mandela and Pienaar, however, stand firmly behind their theory that the game can successfully unite the South African country. ........

Source: Wikipedia