We watched the new rugby movie Invictus with Morgan Freeman and Matt Dammon yesterday. It turns out not to be a rugby movie at all. Instead, I found it to be a parable for forgiveness. Nelson Mandalla managed to forgive his and his people's oppressors in favor of a united country (perhaps conflict is not genetic).
Personally, I vividly remember this history through the rugby perspective of Afrikaan team mates. They frequently discussed South Africa's new president, flag and national anthem during the World Cup the movie shows. Their viewpoint was also stained by horrific violence.
The rugby turns out to be very ordinary. Most of the action scenes look like an over 50 old boys game with an unusual amount of grunting during the scrummaging. However, the forgiveness message is worth this complaint.
This is the powerful poem that drives the movie. Invictus by William Ernest Henley. Certainly Madalla practiced what he read.
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.
2 comments:
This was one of the poems that I had to memorize in high school english--long, long ago. Sorry the movie wasn't better-when I heard it advertised, thought you might enjoy it!Mom
Dude, that's one of my favorite poems--so much so that a good friend framed a line from it for me: "My head is bloody but unbowed." We'll have to put the movie on the Netflix list.
Love, Michael
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