Invictus (2009)

Invictus consisted of Morgan Freeman in his role as Nelson Mandela essentially delivering an endless series of brief yet somehow monumental speeches, the result of which was bringing post-Apartheid South Africa together using rugby. Apparently the quality of his delivery of these speeches designates him as “a great actor.” I do not concur with this assessment, but let’s keep in mind that I’m a cynical and whiney complainer when it comes going along with an assessment of anything as “good,” whether it be acting, plot, or dialogue, unless the criteria used for evaluation happen to miraculously align with my own personal worldview and taste.

The biggest problems with this movie were that it had boring pacing and that it turned a suspiciously blind eye to depicting the hideousness of the South African Apartheid that the real Mandela was striving to overcome. The biggest strengths were that Invictus had an interesting topic, feel-good morals, and OK acting.

Basically: Politics ‘Lite’ with a nice soundtrack.

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