Invictus is a sports drama film related to recent South African history. Having Nelson Mandela as one of the most influential characters in a country desmantled due to apartheid, this movie shows how rugby becomes a means to repair the biggest problem among South African citizens: racial segregation.
After 27 years in jail, Nelson Mandela is elected president in 1994. His immediate challenge is to fight against racial tensions in his country. That's why he requires the help of the captain of the South African rugby union team, the Springboks. In 1995, the Rugby World Cup is played in South Africa.
The Springboks and the president work together for achieving two goals: to win the World Cup and to stop racial segregation in their country. It is really interesting how this story summarizes the excellent job the team and the president do. Based on the values that this sport transmits and that Mandela professes, discrimination and differences in society may be abolished.
"Invictus" is also a short Victorian poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley, that appears in the movie and I’d like to share with you:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Jackie
I think that Mandela needs more recognition around the world, because he fights for our human rights in general. Well, this is one.
ReplyDeleteI hope you ´d enjoy it as I did.
Graffiti Woman
Last year a friend of mine told me about this film, but unluckily I didn´t have the chance of watching it.She used this film in a secondary school to teach about discrimination and many other values , and she told me that the film really grabbed the teenagers attention!I will watch it soon for sure!!! Melman
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