Watched Invictus with Steph last night. What a great story. I've always been intrigued by the perseverance and patience of the man.

While the story is great, the direction and pacing of the film were not so great.


The scenes with dialogue between Freeman and others were powerful, and well handled by Eastwood. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the rugby scenes. They are too long. Too predictable. Bog the story down, draw the focus away from the great story, and make the movie too long.

All that being said, it is a great story, but only a really good movie. I'd give it strong 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

My favorite thing about the film was the many leadership lessons and great quotes that come from Freeman's portrayal of Mandela.

Here are just a few leadership lessons that I was able to pull out of the film:

* Address fears honesty, and directly.

* Take a genuine interest in people. First win their heart, then win their hand.

* Forgiveness liberates the soul, and removes fear.

* People will never do what the leader is unwilling to do.

* No one is invisible. Everyone has value.

* We must inspire people to exceed their expectations of themselves.

This isn't a leadership lesson, but rather a quote:

"The day I'm unwilling to risk my political capital and public opinion, is the day I'm no longer qualified to lead."

Lastly, the movie draws it's name from a poem by William Ernest Henley. Henley was an English poet who had suffered from Tuberculosis, and wrote the poem Invictus (which means, "unconquered") while in a hospital bed. Mandela, while in prison, took courage from the poem. In the film he shares the poem with Matt Damon's character prior to the World Cup of Rugby (in real life, Mandela actually shared part of Roosevelt's "The Man in the Arena").

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.