Movie: Invictus 2009

"His People Needed A Leader, He Gives Them A Champion"

I thought this is a sport movie, those typical losing team climbing to the top charts, with the help of a great coach. Similar, but far from it! This movie is about Nelson Mandela, obsessed about rugby (so am I, go Wallabies!!!) and took the sport to be a political event. Why does he thinks that it is so blardee important for the Springboks to be in the 1995 Rugby World Cup Championship match? Because there will be 1 million viewers..

Of course, that is not just the only reason. The Honorable Mr Mandela is a great man. He was imprison for 27 years, and still come out as a great man. Under that kind of duress, any man would have wither and die. Mandela became the President of South Africa at the age of 76! Oh Em Gee. Not sure if that beats a world record for oldest President/Prime Minister. He has lost so much during his imprisonment, his family, his friends, his country. And yet, he forgives..

"Forgiveness is very powerful.."

When Mandela became the President, black South Africans wanted to remove the national rugby team, which represents apartheid (racial discrimination). But Mandela had a far sighted foresight on what will become of South Africa if that happens. He convinced his black people to support Springboks (it's more of the white Afrikaners people sport at that time). Anyhoo, story short, guess who wins the 1995 Rugby World Cup Championship? :)

I picked up the book last week at MPH, and there were so many tiny details in it, that was left out in the movie. The author seems to be the only one who saw through Mandela's ideals. What I felt after watching this movie:

• Sports can unite and divide people
• Courage comes from Encouragement
• Not all problems can be solve by money alone

Thanks, Mr Mandela for teaching us to be more humane.