I heard about Invictus during last year’s Oscar nomination as Morgan Freeman was nominated for the best performance in a leading role (male). Even though, Morgan Freeman didn’t win the Oscar for his performance but this performance adds to his, already big, list of great and memorable performances.
Cast
Morgan Freeman, I have not seen much of Al Pachino’s movies but for me Morgan Freeman is the greatest actor I have ever seen on the big screen. He tops my list. I now have seen over 10 Morgan Freeman’s movie and haven’t been disappointed by a single one of them. Nowadays, I’m trying to get some of his earlier movies I mean the movies he did in the 70’s-80 because all of his movies I have seen are the recent one; Shawshank Redemption being the oldest.
Matt Damon, he is also one of my safest bet. I read somewhere that Matt Damon is also a producers best bets. His choices of scripts and movies are the best among his contemporaries. I have seen many of Matt’s movies also. Matt has experimented with all kind of characters may it be comedy, action or any other. His “Bourne” series is one of my favorite action movie series which includes Bruce Willis’s “Die Hard” series.
Clint Eastwood, well, who doesn’t love his movies. He needs no introduction. His movies speak for him. He is one of the all time best directors for me, internationally, though I admit I don’t know all of them. This is the 6th Clint Eastwood movie I have seen and loved plus I recently saw one of his soon to be released movies which I’m eagerly waiting for.
Plot
The movie is based in Africa (after Apartheid) when Nelson Mendela wins the election and takes up as the President of South Africa. Nelson Mendela (Morgan Freeman) wants to unite the whole country that is still divided among whites and blacks. Even though, the apartheid is lifted but the attitude of the people for other color is still the same.
After taking over, he realizes how the country is divided over Rugby. The black Africans hate Springboks, their national side because they believe Springboks is a symbol of Apartheid. But the white Africans love Springboks because Rugby is their favorite game. Mandela seems this opportunity as a political opportunity to bring the two sides together.
Mandela grabs the opportunity and with the help of François Pienaar (Matt Damon) he tries to bring together two sides of Africa and to bring the rainbow nation together.
How this historic event took place is described in the movie.
Good Things
Everything is good about the movie. The performances, the perfect cast, the perfect director and a great story dealt with great importance.
I applaud Morgan Freeman’s performance as Mandela. He delivered a convincing and credible performance. Same for Matt Damon too.
Applause for the camera man and the technical team for capturing all the rugby match sequences beautifully and with great details.
I loved the back ground score of the music with complements the story so well.
PS:- I simply loved the poem “Invictus” included in the movie.
8/10 from me.
