Invictus

For a few years now Morgan Freeman has spoken of playing Nelson Mandela in a movie of his life. Morgan has also spoken of the difficulty of being able to fit all that history into one film. So really this may be the closest thing we will get to him doing that film.

I'm not really a fan of sports. My lack of any decent ball handling skills means I'm not very good at it. So while I don't care much for real sports games, i do like movie ones. I think because they are more like edited highlights and involve characters you come to care about. It is interesting how the sports film genre has very little by way of variety. All the stories are pretty much the same. Sports team over comes adversity to win major championship. There is hardly any variation. So most of the time a film's success comes down to the characters and whether you care enough about them to follow them on their journey. A few twists in the story can also help. What this film has is a very recognisable character in Nelson Mandela. I was not very aware of this event before seeing the film, so I liked learning something. Clint Eastwood is an amazing film maker and one who I have a great deal of respect and admiration for. He has a simple old fashioned approach that is very refreshing in this day and age. This style suits the story very well. My only minor criticism would be that while the simplicity is nice, it can mean there is a lack of originality and so it becomes just another sports movie.

As mentioned before Morgan Freeman has been wanting to play this role for quite a while. Morgan certainly looks and sounds like Mandela. Plus he get the minute details right with his mannerisms and stance down pat. You forget you are watching an actor sometimes. I wasn't all that impressed, however, with Matt Damon. Normally he is an excellent actor but here he does not look as if he is trying very hard. I think he deserves an Oscar nomination for 'The Informer' rather than this film.

A very good if fairly decent film that follows the usual conventions of a sports movie. Interesting for being possibly the closest thing we will get to a film about Nelson Mandela.