IT may be a somewhat romanticised and idealistic view, but sport really does have the power to unify humankind, even if for only minutes, hours, days or weeks.
Come June 11 and kick-off of the 2010 soccer World Cup in South Africa, people everywhere will be fixated on events in the ‘Rainbow Nation’.
From the slums of Soweto and Sao Paulo to the beaches of Bondi and Brighton, children will be chasing their beloved round ball and dreaming of emulating the heroics of Ronaldinho, Beckham and Kewell.
Friends and strangers will gather around television screens in the city squares and neighbourhood watering holes to celebrate and commiserate their country’s triumphs and tragedies.
Moreover, in a nation where soccer has long been regarded as the ‘black’ man’s game, this World Cup will serve as a watershed historical moment.
And with this intriguing intersection of sport and politics just months away, the release of Clint Eastwood’s Invictus – adapted from the book Playing the Enemy – comes perfectly timed.
It is 1995 and Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) – a free man after serving 27 years in prison – has taken the reins of a post-apartheid South Africa with a mission to inspire South Africans of all racial backgrounds to unite and move forward.
But Mandela sets himself another, less likely, mission: inspire the Springboks, the country’s struggling national rugby team, to win the South African-hosted 1995 rugby World Cup – the perfect platform to showcase a unified nation.
Mandela opposes the removal of the Springboks moniker – perceived by ‘black’ South Africans as a symbol of apartheid – and befriends the captain, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), inspiring him to unexpected World Cup glory in the ‘white’ man’s game.
With his surname, it seems Freeman was destined to play Mandela (he was touted to portray the great man for many years) and his uncanny and nuanced performance is so convincing, you almost forget who it is you are watching.
Damon also shines, with a surprising mastery of the tricky South African accent, while Eastwood continues to thrive in his twilight years, with his trademark deft touch allowing the story to unfold without it being overly preachy or sentimental.
More than just another sports film, Invictus is a timely reminder of how one of the most inspirational people to have walked this earth showed the power of forgiveness and compassion through the universal language of sport.
INVICTUS (PG)
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon
Rating: Four stars (133 minutes)
Screening: from December 21