'Invictus'

'Invictus' (PG-13) ***

Writer: Anthony Peckham based on John Carlin's book "Playing the Enemy"
Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Tony Kgoroge, Adjoa Andoh

I grew up idolizing Clint Eastwood for he is my favorite actor and I thought the man could and still do no wrong. His acting career has been rich and varied and when he started directing back in the early 70's he made some interesting and well done films. Now in the past decade he has made some outstanding and fascinating movies and everything he directs has been amazing. The man is hitting 80 and he still directs film after film and they have all been winners. He is on quite a roll and that continues with another winner in "Invictus". This is a rousing, inspirational and crowd pleasing movie. The movie starts out with Nelson Mandela being released from prison in 1990 and follows his new presidency as Apartheid had vanished. Nelson Mandela is played by Morgan Freeman and it is no surprise that he is outstanding and perfectly cast as Mandela. It is a beautiful, grounded performance that is subtle and affecting. The movie does not cover the whole life of Mandela but wisely narrows it's focus on one event. That is the journey of the South African Rugby team and it's goal to win the World Cup. Mandela feels this will unite South Africa after Apartheid has torn it apart a bit. He visits the team's Captain to try to inspire him to get his woeful team back on track. Matt Damon plays the Captain and he gives another sturdy performance. His accent is perfect and with his performance in "The Informant" he is having another great year becoming one of our finest actors. The movie wisely focuses on Mandela though because his is the character that sets everything in motion. This is Freeman's movie and he is sure to get an Oscar nomination for his performance. The Rugby scenes are well directed and if you don't know anything about Rugby you will learn a lot here. Eastwood has made an inspiring movie that will get people cheering. Everything is well done but the reason I think it is not a great movie is that there are really no surprises or anything that will stay with you for days. It is just a well made and crowd pleasing movie with great performances and another solid Clint Eastwood movie.