Sports As More Than Metaphor

Movie #2 over the Christmas weekend was Invictus, the latest from director Clint Eastwood. (Tomatometer: 76%; IMDB) Inspirational, well-acted and well-directed Invictus is part of the story of Nelson Mandela, former prisoner of South Africa and later its first Black president. I have to disclose that Mandela has been one of my heroes for many years. This film only cements his place in my list of people who have made the world- and my life- a better place.

In brief, Invictus is the story of an almost all-white South African rugby club in the early year of Nelson Mandela's presidency. Mandela, played to perfection by Morgan Freeman decides to enlist the captain of the team, Matt Damon, to make the Springboks a World Cup winning team as a way to unite the country. This in spite of the Springboks have been a hated symbol of the hated apartheid, even to the teams colors.

From the beginning the story isn't about rugby, though director Eastwood does some remarkable directing and editing around the game. It is the story of a nation working to right itself from a dark, stormy, hate-filled past. Mandela, as we all know, managed to do that with grace, finesse, and a great deal of personal courage and modeling. We see this told in scene after scene. There is the merging of white and black security details. There is a visit by the rugby team to the prison cell where Mandela spent 27 years of his life. There is the team teaching poor blacks how to play rugby.

We often use sports as a metaphor for all different life experiences. Here the genius of Eastwood showcases the truly outstanding genius of Mandela to use sports as a means in and of itself to change the world. That doesn't happen very often. We can probably name only a handful or so of such events: Sandy Koufax declining the start of a World Series game because of a Jewish holiday, Chariots of Fire, the Brian Piccolo story had small impacts on a greater world.

Jesse Owens winning at the 1936 "Nazi" Olympics in Berlin or the raised black power fists in 1968, and the awful devastation of the terrorist attack in 1972 in Munich raise these greater issues. They did have great impact on many. But the story of Mandela and the rugby squad set a tone for an entire nation's recovery. They simply went out to play a game and became true champions.

It is easy to wax eloquent about events like this. Eastwood, Freeman and Damon bring it all to life. It takes courage- and vision. This movie gives us a glimpse at one who had that and its amazing results.

This is a not-to-be-missed movie.