Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Adjoah Andoh, Andre Jacobs, Julian Lewis Jones, Tony Kgoroge, Scott Eastwood and Zak Feaunati as Jonah Lomu.
In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud, Under the bludgeonings of chance, My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Let’s cut to the chase, this is not a film about rugby. Sure, rugby’s in it and rugby features all the way through it but it’s not the main game.
No, the main game is about how a ‘kaffir terrorist‘ and wily old politician, recently elected as the President of South Africa, used this medium to unite his fractured country.
The film, based on the book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation, actually operates on two levels. Firstly, it’s a serious political drama of some gravitas that follows Mandela in his quest for reconciliation.
The sub level is the actual rugby story and for people like us who purport to know a little bit about the game you’ll be picking the eyes out of it. A true depiction of international rugby it is not. That’s because this film was made by Clint Eastwood, not for you and I, but for American audiences.
The book has been ‘Hollywoodised’ and why would they let the facts stand in the way of a good story? Well, they don’t. That said, my expectations of how Clint would deal with the rugby sequences were relatively low and, although they were more or less met, could have been worse.
What they’ve recreated is a bit of a laugh to the aficionado, let’s call it Spaghetti Rugby, a new genre to compete with the Western. The collisions and scrums go zap, pow, wham, crack, bang….gee, just like the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder used to do.
Chester Williams, who’s expertise they used for the rugby sequences, must have thought he was playing Golden Oldies in them there bygone days. That’s because what they deliver is a half-paced version of test rugby dished up at Ellis Park…or Newlands…or is it Ellis Park….or is it Newlands? The film doesn’t actually seem to know either…….
However, what I found was that the rugby part of it didn’t really matter because the film is an excellent political drama and this theme dominates throughout. Sure, we know there’s going to be a happy ending but the journey to that point was highly charged, entertaining and to some extent emotional.
I’m not sure that this film will go down a treat in downtown Bloemfontein as I’d imagine Saffas will have mixed feeling about it, but you’ve got to say it was a major turning point in their psyche.
The background as to how this all played out was that Mandela was released from 27 years incarceration and ended his long walk to freedom in 1990. There was heavy political violence over the next few years especially between his ANC supporters (mainly Xhosa) and those of Chief Buthelezei’s Zulu Inkartha Party.
Mandela was elected President in 1994 in democratic elections and formed a unity government with the National Party (essentially the apartheid era Afrikaaner party) with former President F.W. de Klerk as his deputy.
In the leadup to the Rugby World Cup a Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed to hear evidence of primarily apartheid era human rights abuses. This was the white hot political climate in 1995.
That Mandela succeeded in creating his Rainbow Nation, by forgiving and embracing his jailers as depicted in this film, confirms his standing as one of the immense political figures of the 20th century.
Anyhow, Mandela invites Springbok Captain François Pienaar over for a cuppa and a chat, and grooms the lad for….no not noncing, but to inspire him and his teammates to greater things. François steps up and convinces his racist Springbok buddies that change is on its way.
The Springboks, hated by the blacks for what they stand for, are eventually adopted and supported by the masses (who always used to barrack for the other side).
The Afrikaaners in the film are portrayed as wooden, cliched and racist – that sounds pretty accurate to me! There’s a sub-plot going on with Mandela’s black and white bodyguards, a bit like Shaft meeting the Broederbond. This is a mirror of the reconciliation process that Mandela is trying to achieve.
As for the Bokke and the All Black players, well they found a few actors that looked like a couple from that era and it sort of works. There’s a big focus on Jonah Lomu and Zak Feaunati puts in a credible performance as the big man, but it ain’t a speaking part.
Morgan Freeman gives a towering performance – believable, eloquent and just so goddamned good. If you bumped into him at Shoprite, Pick’n Pay or Checkers you’d swear you’ve just seen Madiba. This is Oscar winning stuff and the luvvies will just cream themselves over his portrayal.
Matt Damon. Well, that’s another story. He looks a lot like Pienaar but is just a short-arse in comparison. To some extent he’s a fish out of water but the septics won’t have a clue who he is or what the footy was about anyway. I reckon I could have written better lines for him though…..like ‘what choo talkin’ bout Chester’.
I really enjoyed this film, much better than I anticipated. But don’t go for the rugby, go for the drama.
As for Suzie the waitress; she doesn’t feature but then, just like the latter day Woodcock, is probably just a myth.
