Invictus

Clint Eastwood is a master at making a movie that appears to be all about a sport, but really is all about something entirely different. The slightly off kilter viewpoint allows us to relax and think about what the subtext might mean to us.
The setting is 1994-1995 South Africa. Nelson Mandela has become president after a bloody and contentious battle with the ruling white minority. Tension is high, and he is mindful that the stakes are high. If they respond in kind now that they have power, the world will isolate them, and while the former oppressors no longer rule, they have all the financial clout and the new government will ultimately fail because the economy will implode.

So, how is this a sports movie? The tale revolves around the South African Rugby team--which is not particularly good. And it is even less popular with the black South Africans--they are soccer people, and they see rugby as another symbol of white oppression. So when Mandela puts his political good will behind rooting for the team, he does so as an olive branch to white South Africans, and as away to unify a country that is badly divided. He states that in his 27 years in jail he studied his enemy at close hand, and will use everything he learned to bring peace of a sort to his homeland. Nicely done.