Invictus (2009) on Netflix
PG-1320092h 14mBiographyDramaHistory
South Africa's president, Nelson Mandela, wants to unite a country divided by apartheid. He backs the Springboks and asks captain Francois Pienaar to lead the team at the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.3/10175,596 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes76%
Trailer
Plot summary
Nelson Mandela leaves Victor Verster Prison in 1990 after twenty-seven years in captivity. Four years on he takes office as President of South Africa, and the country he inherits faces poverty, crime and the racial divisions apartheid left behind. Watching a match between South Africa and England, he sees black South Africans cheering for England rather than the mostly white Springboks, and remarks that he once backed England himself, from his cell on Robben Island. South Africa hosts the 1995 Rugby World Cup in a year, so Mandela urges the South African Sports Committee to get behind the Springboks, and asks their captain, Francois Pienaar, to help turn the team into a symbol for all South Africans.
Cast
- Sibongile Nojilaas Eunice
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Invictus (2009)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Matt Damon was cast as team captain Francois Pienaar despite being significantly smaller than him and much smaller than members of the current Springbok squad, and was given intensive coaching by Chester Williams, another star of the 1995 team, at the Gardens Rugby League Club.
- Filming of the final also took place on location at Ellis Park Stadium, the actual venue for the 1995 final.
- The film is based on John Carlin's book Playing the Enemy: Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation, and the filmmakers met Carlin for a week at his Barcelona home, discussing how to transform the book into a screenplay.
- Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens composed the score, having previously done the same for Clint's Letters from Iwo Jima and Gran Torino, and the soundtrack featured the South African a cappella group Overtone led by Yorlandi Nortjie.
