Invictus

Clint Eastwood may not know the meaning of brevity, but he certainly hasn't forgotten how to tell a story with passion and energy. His latest movie, an inspirational sports flick doubled up as a biopic and named after a powerful little William Ernest Henley poem, is long-winded and overblown, but under Eastwood's direction, it surprisingly locates its dramatic soul and emerges a flawed, but touching triumph.

Eastwood likes to stretch every dramatic moment to its unwieldy breaking point, but the emotional aroma of the story is so potent that the narrative excesses register as minor missteps, rather than major stumbles. Invictus is predictable and seemingly simple, but Eastwood's talent for making human drama appear larger than life serves the movie well.

The biopic portion of the movie arrives in the form of Nelson Mandela, played with towering charisma by Morgan Freeman. Mandela's life could surely inspire an entire movie focused on his challenging experiences, but Invictus is not that movie. Based on the book "Playing the Enemy" by John Carlin and adapted for the screen by Anthony Peckham, Invictus picks up Mandela's life shortly after his release from prison on Robben Island, an event that was later followed by Mandela being elected President of South Africa.

The narrative of Invictus is concerned with Mandela's inspired belief that transforming the South African national rugby team into World Cup contenders will be a surefire way to unite the racially divided country. So the movie fulfills the specific necessities of both the biopic (Mandela's legacy is explored) and the inspirational sports flick (underdog team must find a way to start winning). With Eastwood at the helm, the presence of sports movie clichés is guaranteed, but Eastwood and Peckham manage to cut through the schmaltz and deliver a gripping and engaging tale of perseverance and redemption.

Occupying such a familiar narrative space should hurt Invictus, but while the movie lacks a refreshing imagination, it redeems itself with a heavy dose of old-fashioned heart. The conventions of both the biopic and sport movie subgenres are on full display and yet the movie is consistently engaging and extremely entertaining. Eastwood does insist on dragging the story out to a rather unnecessary length of 134 minutes, mainly so he can extend the crowd-pleasing sequences in a way that evokes a sense of time completely coming to a halt.

I could argue that it isn't integral to the plot that we view countless individuals huddled around televisions, all collectively watching the big rugby match that devours so much screen time even without these cutaway scenes. Eastwood is trying to heighten the cinematic importance of the game and so he resorts to standard narrative, camera, and editing tricks to achieve his goal. The final moments of the crucial match are presented in achingly slow motion and anyone who's seen one of these inspirational sports movies before could easily grow a little tired of the sluggish manipulation of the narrative clock.

But Eastwood keeps calling the shots in his cool, confident way and then he walks away smiling. Once the credits roll, Invictus proves to be a very moving and sweetly beautiful tale of a great man accomplishing something spectacular. In the middle of it all, hoisted high upon the shoulders of its buoyant spirit is Morgan Freeman, who grandly delivers one of my favourite performances of the year. He imbues his Mandela with a gentle joy that always feels like its coming from within. His performance never dips to the point of mere impersonation and he always fills the screen with a loving glow.

Matt Damon leads a solid supporting cast as Francois Pienaar, the captain of the South African rugby team who has been tasked with inspiring his downtrodden team to play like winners. Damon does a decent job with a role that is more physically demanding than it is emotional, but he cannot help but be swallowed up by the gravitational power of Freeman's incredible acting. Even then, everyone in the cast brings a memorable authenticity to the movie and they simply perform in the wake of Freeman's emotional lightning rod of a performance.

Invictus receives an additional jolt of energy from cinematographer Tom Stern, who previously collaborated with Eastwood on Flags of Our Fathers, Changeling, and several other movies. Stern bathes the movie in stark light and he shoots the brutal rugby sequences with effective grace. The camera follows the players as they burst down the field and it soars into the air to capture the elation of the crowd. The movie is almost always arresting to watch and Stern's photography is a big part of the reason why.

Clint Eastwood has been making movies for a long time and his vehemently verbose approach to storytelling isn't about to change anytime soon. But when a movie like Invictus comes along and manages to strongly spotlight the filmmaker's strengths, while still acknowledging his weaknesses, it is a solid reminder that Eastwood's style can work very well when coupled with the right material. He knows how to express emotion in bold fashion and he knows how to trust his actors with major roles. With Eastwood, Freeman, and Stern all working hard, Invictus succeeds as both biopic and sports movie, due mainly to their collaborative efforts that prove to be a winning combination.