REVIEW: Invictus

Invictus
-PG-13-
released December 11, 2009


Inspired by the true story of Nelson Mandella's election as president of South Africa in 1994.  After being released from prison in 1990, Mandella, played by Morgan Freeman,  works to bring down the apartheid.  Being a black president after the apartheid has many problems.  It is Mandella's leadership and inspiration which brings the country from chaos and segregation to a unified nation.  He does it through the Rugby team.  Like Mandella the team is predicted to never make it, not even to the World Cup.  Mandella works with the captain of the Rugby team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon's character).


Inspiring a nation takes many hearts to be turned to work together.  Struggle in the face of failure can lead to an amazing victory or the worst failure.  Faith is the key in this story.  Faith that those hearts will turn.  Faith that a nation will come together.  Faith in a nation needing the change.


The title of the movie is the title of a poem that Nelson Mandella used as his personal inspiration while in prison.


INVICTUS
by William Ernest Henley

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.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
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.

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.

The last two lines are the main lines used in the film.  Really inspiring and wonderful!

Please watch this film!  It will inspire you to keep going and never give up on what is right!