Clint Eastwood, in my opinion, has shown that he is a better director than an actor and I'm pleased that after seeing Eastwood's new film 'Invictus' I'm still of that opinion.
Invictus follows the story of Nelson Mandela and the struggle of the South African rugby team to get to twin the world cup. The film, as a whole, has the unmistakable patterns of a 'feel good' film -somewhat similar to 'Remember the Titans'.
The film follows the idea that President Mandela, using the nation's failing rugby team, helped to repair relations between Black and White South Africans. Although, it comes across as a nice thought that something so trivial can inspire such a significant result. However, I can't help but believe that Eastwood has somewhat enhanced or exaggerated certain aspects of history to suit the inspiring feel good film. Nevertheless I'm sure that the filmmakers' have done their homework well and that the majority of the story is based on true enough events that warrant the film's inspirational feel.
I personally found the film a refreshing followup to the brilliant (but exceedingly depressing) Changeling. As I mentioned, the film possesses the 'feel good' factor but the way in which it is handled side-steps the cringe-worthy, 'cheese' aspect it could just as easily have fallen into. There are moments of tasteful humour that lighten the story along with dealing with serious issues (such as apartheid) -without diving to deep into seriousness.
Morgan Freeman's performance as the South African president is not only (predictably) good but strangely accurate and believable in his speech patterns and body language. His performance as Nelson Mandela is really quite fantastic. Similarly, Matt Damon holds up his usual high standard of performance.
