RUGBY AS A DYING SYMBOL OF OPPRESSION: A FILM REVIEW OF INVICTUS

By

Cleo E. Brown 

 
       In Invictus, starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, Producer and Director Clint Eastwood, demonstrates how, through the use of the South African Rugby Team, Nelson Mandela unified the Nation.

      In South Africa during Apartheid, at least eighty-five percent of the population was Black while only six percent of the population was Afrikaner.  For decades, however, the wealth and the political power of the Nation remained in the hands of the White Afrikaner Government.  Extremely similar to the predicament of African-Americans in the United States before the Civil Right’s Movement, a symbol to the Blacks in South Africa of their oppression was the Rugby Spring Box (Rugby Football Team).  So menacing was the predominantly all White Rugby Team to Black South Africans that Blacks routinely cheered against The South African Team. 

As Mandela in Invictus, however, Morgan Freeman, through the Rugby Team’s Captain, handsomely played by Matt Damon, uses the National Rugby Team of South Africa to unify the polarized races in the Nation.  Although the constant use of “The Great Man Theory” to depict Mandela is a bit over-done, and the physical beauty of The South African Nation is rarely capitalized upon in this film, the concept of The Rugby Team as a symbol of oppression with the power to unify the Blacks and the Whites of South Africa is an interesting one.

       Footage of Mandela’s release from prison as well as the war between The Apartheid-backed Afrikaner Government and The African National Congress is recreated and used in Invictus.  Although we tend to forget about it, because Mandela has been a President of his Nation, he spent almost thirty years in a South African Prison for his participation in The Sowetto Riots in 1968.  Invictus, from the opening scenes of the film, reminds us of this reality. 

Although the ending to this true-life drama, unlike Mandela’s release from prison, is predictable Invictus is a quality film worth our time and attention.  For, just as we need to never forget, in the United States of America, the past experiences of Blacks and of other people of color, we need to also remember the experiences of Nelson Mandela and other people of color (especially Blacks) in South Africa.  On a scale of from one to twelve roses, therefore, I am giving to Invictus twelve-and-a-half roses.

About The Author: Cleo E. Brown has a Master’s Degree in Contemporary African-American History from The University of California at Davis in Davis, California. She also has a B.A. Minor Degree in Political-Science and has completed course work towards a Ph.D. in Education from The University of San Francisco in San Francisco, California. She is a Free Lance Writer and a Senior Editor at HHR.