Invictus

It’s the mid-1990s and newly elected President Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) faces questions over his ability to govern a society still wounded by decades of apartheid. His aides are completely thrown and more than a little concerned when the former political prisoner takes up the cause of the South African rugby team, a bastion of Afrikaner culture. As the country gears up to host the rugby World Cup, Mandela forms an unlikely alliance with François Pienaar (Matt Damon), the Springbok captain, and a divided South Africa rallies behind a most unlikely cause.

Messrs. Eastwood and Freeman are, if Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby are anything to go by, good company for one another and Invictus, a winning True Life tale about an old dog and an underdog fits neatly alongside these fine pictures.

The film’s elegant, stately paced drama is greatly enhanced by thrilling match recreations (even rugby agnostics should be convinced), a guaranteed punch-the-air finale, Mr. Damon’s impressive skills with a bitch of an accent and Mr. Freeman’s deft interpretation of Mandela. We’ve seen many screen portrayals of the man before, but none has the air of mischief found here.