I watched Invictus starring Morgan Freeman (as Mandela) and Matt Damon (as) on a flight I was on. The movie is directed by Clint Eastwood. Am a fan of all three of the above mentioned guys, so I quite enjoyed the movie. It is based on the events around 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa, around the time apartheid was dismantled and Nelson Mandela was the first black President of South Africa. Springboks, the rugby union team of South Africa, is an all white team, except for one black player. Post-apartheid, there is a strong racial under current between blacks and whites, and the blacks don't look at Springboks as their national team, and don't support it. Mandela wants to change this, and wants the team to have full nation's support - making a World Cup victory the point to unite and inspire black and white sentiments as one nation. He gets in touch with Francois Pienaar, the captain of Springboks, and expresses his wish that they win the World Cup. He shares a poem called Invictus with Francois, and tells him that this poem inspired him for 27 years in the prison and continues to inspire him today.
In the movie, Francois takes his team to the prison where Mandela spent his first 18 years of the 27 year term. He marvels at the fact that in such a tiny cell, a man could be unbroken for 27 years, and still come out to forgive the people who put him there. It fills him with determination, and he drives the team to an improbable victory.
Below is the poem
Invictus
By William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
In the movie, Francois takes his team to the prison where Mandela spent his first 18 years of the 27 year term. He marvels at the fact that in such a tiny cell, a man could be unbroken for 27 years, and still come out to forgive the people who put him there. It fills him with determination, and he drives the team to an improbable victory.
Below is the poem
Invictus
By William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
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