Invictus — A Review and Commentary on Sports Impact on Society.
Do you believe sports have the power to resolve a whole nations conflicts? In 1994, having been released from his long imprisonment, Nelson Mandela was elected as the first president of post-apartheid South Africa. In Clint Eastwood’s brilliant Invictus (2009) we see newly appointed President Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) “immediately begin to set up his presidential staff and security team with one predominant notion: that blacks’ revenge against the Afrikaners cannot be indulged, and the culture must embrace integration if stability and peace are to take hold.” Racial tensions all around the nation are stilling running on high and among many other of the countries ongoing matters and issues, “Mandela focuses on the nation’s rugby team, the Springboks, beloved by the whites and loathed by the black majority (who have traditionally preferred soccer)” and who only are represented with one single black player. At the beginning of the film, to the apparent demise and overarching surprise of his fellow black citizens as well as those in support, Mandela is seen on numerous occasions throughout the film openly advocating and encouraging the country to get behind the Springboks in full support of the team’s upcoming 1995 Rugby World Cup tournament. Notably, the 1995 Rugby World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in South Africa following the termination of apartheid and this was President Mandela’s first chance to truly showcase South Africa as an independent nation positively competing in sports on a world stage. Mandela throughout the movie preserves a unique relationship with the Springboks captain, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), “who has little stake in racial politics and simply plays rugby for a living.” By way of this notable relationship the two hold, “the nation begins to pull together gradually over the Springboks and the new ‘One team, One nation’ slogan.” In Invictus, Eastwood displays the striking power of sport and furthermore demonstrates the potential it has is with which Mandela took on is indeed strong enough to overturn racial divides and complications as large as South Africa’s very own apartheid.
Mandela is depicted in this film in truly believing that if he is able to inspire and get the country behind the Springboks, this can ultimately bring South Africa’s people together beyond just sport and help move the country forward in the direction of racial integration. One scene of note where we really saw Mandela stepping out of his shell to the public was when he radically shows up to an all black conference being held and gives his primary address to the public about how vital it is that the black community throughout South Africa gets behind the Springboks in order to achieve a larger goal as a nation. This scene stood out in large part because he receives much backlash initially by the all-black audience and everyone in the room beside his associates is in disbelief that he is telling them to support an almost all white rugby team. We can tell Mandela is thinking much further ahead to the future than his compatriots as they are all understandably angry after having been oppressed and under apartheid rule by Afrikaners, whom many can be seen on the team. It is bold of Mandela to do this for many reasons, but even more so because he doesn’t even immediately have support from all the players on the Springboks. He takes his time little by little to win over the country’s support as well as the players on the actual team. Post-Apartheid South Africa is still quite fresh and everyone is still getting used to having a new president. In the very opening scenes of the film, we saw a transition from an all white youth rugby team all in matching uniforms practicing on one side of the street to the switch of a soccer game occurring that consists of only black South African children in apparent raggedy clothing playing on dirt. We then see a switch of the camera back onto the main street where Mandela is passing by in a car surrounded by police vehicles with their sirens wailing and all the black children sing “Mandela” in praise and joy that he has been released from jail and elected president. On the other side of the street, the head coach of the other team negatively but notably titles Mandela as a “terrorist” and when asked by a kid who it is driving by, he tells his players “remember this day boys, for this is a day our country went to the dogs.” (1:58) This scene strongly displays the true divide within the country at this time and sets up the whole rest of the movie for Mandela to change that exact kind of narrative put on him. Mandela is known for many great reasons, but one of the truly greatest motives is for being someone who was able to almost immediately forgive the very people who imprisoned him for 27 years and try to work alongside them in order for a greater future for his country.
Mandela is shown throughout Invictus, repeatedly putting the nations rugby team ahead of other matters, making them the true significant priority of this time when there was divide all throughout every corner of the country. This substantial decision affects Mandela on a personal level too, as he struggles to please his family on all accounts. In particular, his daughter Zindzi who sees pictures of her father on the covers of the daily newspaper shaking hands with Francois Pienaar. This angers her as she tells him that the Pienaar looks frighteningly similar to the men who first arrested him inside their home. This is an ongoing concern and issue Mandela deals with over the course of the film but once again, it is downplayed by Eastwood because his central focus remains to be on the Springboks and their success within the World Cup.
We saw the president in the film even hire his own personal assistant to help him scout the team and advise him on all matters concerning the rugby team as well as the 1995 World Cup tournament in general. His assistant also valuably informed him that the finals will be broadcasted to over a billion people worldwide, at this moment he realizes the importance of this opportunity to represent South Africa to the world through sport. He then calls the President of South African Rugby, Danny Keogh, who gives his orders to the players that for the “PR buildup to the World Cup, you will be conducting coaching clinics in townships all over the country.” (55:17) This is one of Mandela’s intelligent ways to integrate the national team with its very own people. As I mentioned before, Mandela initially didn’t have 100% support from everyone, especially not by the very team he was trying to get the entire country behind.
But before I get into that, it’s important to remember that this divide took effect on all levels. Starting at the highest level being within Mandela’s security team which firstly consisted of only black security guards who are considered family to Mandela. There’s a pivotal scene at the beginning of the film where Mandela’s original native security team is in need of more men on the team and are met by a special branch team of all white security guards, who we learn served for the previous president and protected the very man who put Mandela behind bars. The two groups of security teams learn they are now expected to work alongside each other under Mandela’s order and presidency. The captain of Mandela’s original security team, Jason Tshabalala, is inflamed by this shocking news and confronts Mandela immediately. Wisely, Mandela calms him down from his outburst and tells him “The rainbow nation starts here, the reconciliation starts here.” (14:01) Jason understandably is angered by the apparent orders from his new president and makes the strong point opposing to work alongside these men as they well could have been the men who killed them and their friends not long ago. Once again, Mandela gently replies to Jason that “Forgiveness starts here too. Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon” (14:18) It is through moments like this, that we begin to see Mandela’s true compassion matched by no other and that he believes integration is crucial on all levels. But the unrest doesn’t just end there and as I mentioned before the team didn’t take the support in the right vein initially as we saw multiple scenes of the white Springbok players frequently asking questions like “why is Mandela trying to help us” and “why does he want to support us?” It isn’t clear to the rest of the players on why until Mandela makes his true mark on one of the key players, team captain Francois Pienaar. Mandela invites Pienaar to tea one morning before the World Cup is set to begin. He calmly has a sit-down conversation with Pienaar, making it more of a friendship and bond, rather than making it feel like he’s giving orders. He begins the chat by asking Pienaar if his ankle is ok as he injured it recently, showing his unrivaled support and care for the man. Throughout this conversation, Mandela asks questions of what leadership looks like. When asked, Pienaar intelligently tells him the way he inspires and leads on the field is by example, which is exactly what Mandela can do in his position off the field. Mandela leaves Pienaar with one significant speech, he asks how do we inspire people around us? Here he is referring to the country as a whole which is going through a major shift and finishes by saying, we use the help of everyone around us. He lastly says “We need inspiration” to Pienaar “Because in order to build our nation, we must all exceed our own expectations.” (50:30) Inferring that everyone needs to come together, beyond race in order to win this World Cup for the country and it's greater good moving forward as a nation.
Invictus proves sport can comprehensively have a bigger impact off the field than what it has on the field. Now although this movie and director Eastwood dramatizes the impact of sport and particularly rugby within Mandela’s day to day life, a prime example and instance of a real-world sports resolution that took place was in the Ivory Coast around 2005. Retired Soccer Star Didier Drogba, played at his peak during the mid-2000’s and led his country during the 2006 World Cup qualification games. The team representing the nation of the Ivory Coast did something they had never accomplished before, they won their final match to book their place in the 2006 World Cup. Simultaneously, his native country was at its peak controversy “was embroiled in a bloody civil war which would kill an estimated 4,000 people and displaced over 1 million.” Drogba’s teammate and Ivory Coast’s team captain at the time, “Cyril Domoraud, invited the media into the changing room and handed the microphone to Didier Drogba, star striker and national icon.’ Men and women of the Ivory Coast,’ he said down the lens, his face stern and sincere. ‘From the north, south, center and west, we proved today that all Ivorians can coexist and play together with a shared objective: to qualify for the World Cup. We promised you that the celebration would unite the people. Today, we beg you, please — on our knees — forgive. Forgive, forgive. The one country in Africa with so many riches must not descend into war like this. Please, lay down all weapons. Hold elections, organize elections. All will be better. Rising to their feet, broad smiles now spread across their faces, the players started to sing. We want to have fun, so stop firing your guns, they chorused tunefully.” This is a historic and significant moment because the athletes are using their platform as superstars to speak the truth to the people and citizens within their native country for a change. We have seen this type of example in contemporary sports more and more today with athletes like LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick additionally using their platform to stand up against something greater than sports. Remarkably, “Drogba’s speech and the team’s qualification for the World Cup helped convince the government and opposing New Forces to hold a ceasefire and restart peace talks. In early 2007, the two warring sides signed an official peace agreement, causing then-president Laurent Gbagbo to declare the war was over.” Although Drogba and his teams astounding triumph was less about race and more focused on civil war, similar to the Invictus storyline, this major victory by a sports team happened at an anxious time within a country where tensions were high and sports was ultimately the right solution at the moment to help motivate the country to become more peaceful. I believe sport does truly have the power in our society to cause change because it gives people an opportunity to put their differences aside and have a sense of solidarity between each other.
