Invictus is not a spectacular movie. Oh no doubt, Clint Eastwood is a spectacular as a director, Morgan Freeman is a wonderful actor, and Matt Damon is wonderful as well. In fact I expect Morgan Freemen will be nominated for an academy award, and for sure Clint Eastwood will be nominated for best director. Matt Damon for best supporting actor is not a stretch either. So, is this a great movie? Yes and no. The material is meaty and the actors do everything possible to make it great. Unfortunately it lacks two main ingredients for the movie to be a spectacular sports movie int he US.

First, so so few people play or understand Rugby in the US, that the sport is not well not understood. I am not an expert, I did play it twice as a younger more adventurous soul, but I am no expert at all, and I can say it is a great game. OK, I spent my time mostly on my butt watching others run and up down the field. Which is what most folks int he US do when they play Rugby.

Second, the movie is set in a far away place. I woudl love to visit South Africa, it is must be beautiful, but it is still a far away place, to generate a great deal of interest in the US. So with two strikes against it I doubt the movie will be thought of as great in this country. South Africa, will embrace this movie and it will likely be the sports movie that defines the country.

Just a note here. What is portrayed is nothing less than a miracle of human endurance. We in the US can look at what is portrayed in this movie as an extension of our own struggles for civil rights. This movie made me think of Martin Luther King and the images that flashed on my the television screen of my youth. While the movie may not be thought of as the greatest sports movie for the US, it will represent our struggle as a nation.

Another note. I have lived my whole life in Indiana. The setting of three of the five best sports movies about this country, Rudy, Breaking Away and Hoosiers. The other two are Brian's Song and Slap Shot. OK, maybe Major League or Bull Durham or Field of Dreams deserve a place on that list, but as you can see I am partial to the three Indiana based movies. So I may not be the most impartial judge of sports movies.

I do hope you see this movie. It is worth seeing and it is a wonderful history lesson about apartheid and its immediate aftermath, we can also see the revolutionary influence of Martin Luther King on countries and people around the world.

rick phillips

Fun stuff from the IMBD database.

* Factual errors: Johan de Villiers the TV commentator who first bad-mouths the Boks and then praises the Springboks, after the final whistle, asks the question of Pienaar: "What did it feel like to have 62,000 fans supporting you in the stadium?" and receives the answer: "We didn't have 62,000 fans behind us, we had 43 million South Africans." It was in fact a SABC reporter called David van der Sandt.

* Factual errors: In the scene where the Springboks are drinking beer in the change-rooms after losing a match the Natal Rugby Union logo is seen in the change room. The Springboks never played at "Kings Park Stadium" (where the Natal Rugby Union is located) in 1994.

* Errors in geography: In the scene with the Springbok team jogging just before the final, they are jogging through the streets of Cape Town around the Newlands Rugby Stadium. They would have been jogging at this point in the story in Johannesburg which is where the final took place (at Ellis Park Stadium).

* Errors in geography: Just after the final when the crowds are celebrating and Mandela is being driven away from the stadium through the crowded streets he would have been in Johannesburg of course. However, a street sign for "LOOP STREET" is clearly visible as the street his car turns into. Loop Street is one of the major streets in the center of Cape Town, not in Johannesburg.

* Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): On a couple of occasions, Matt Damon's character, Francois Pienaar, refers to the rugby field. In rugby-playing circles, especially those outside of the United States, the playing surface is referred to as the rugby pitch.

* Factual errors: Near the end of the movie, Francois Pienaar mentions Mandela's "30 years in that cell," referencing his visit to Mandela's cell on Robben Island. In fact, Mandela spent about 17.5 of his 27 years of imprisonment in the cell on Robben Island. He was imprisoned in Johannesburg and then Pretoria for about a year and a half during his trial, then sent to Robben Island for 17.5 years. He was moved to Pollsmoor Prison for 6 years, then to Victor Verster Prison for 2 years until his release. When Mandela's earlier arrests and imprisonments are factored in, he did spend about 30 years in prison, just not at Robben Island. (See Mandela's autobiography Long Walk to Freedom.)

* Factual errors: The All Black Haka, the war dance performed before the start of a match, is always led by a senior Maori player except when no Maori are available. In the film, the leader appears to be New Zealand European.

* Anachronisms: In the shot of the 747 pilot looking over the stadium, the shot includes a Vodacom advert on top of the tall Ponty Building. In 1995, there was a Coca Cola sponsorship on top of the building.

* Anachronisms: During the scene where the fans are entering Ellis Park Stadium for the 1995 Rugby World Cup Final, advertising banners can be seen in the distance that read "Coca-Cola Park", which did not become the stadium's name until 2008.

* Anachronisms: When the Springboks are on their way into the township for the PR exercise, an election poster for Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille can be viewed. The Democratic Alliance only came into being in 2000, and this particular poster (with new logo) appeared only in 2008, several years after the events depicted.

* Errors in geography: When the Springboks go for a jog on the morning of the Rugby World Cup final in Johannesburg, they run through what are clearly the suburbs of Observatory/Newlands in Cape Town, more than 1500km away.

* Anachronisms: Mandela and others are seen repeatedly wearing coat-of-arms badges. However, the design they wear wasn't introduced until 2000, some five years after the events depicted.

* Factual errors: During the Rugby World Cup Final, security men are shocked to see what appears to be a low-flying jumbo jet, only to see it is harmless. In reality, all security staff were briefed about the jet maneuvers planned for the day.

* Anachronisms: The 4 engine Airbus A340 with the Chester Williams photo on the fuselage was only introduced to South African Airways from 2000 onwards, i.e. 5 years after the RWC final.

* Anachronisms: When the Springboks are running in Moulli Point past the lighthouse, a current model 2009 Range Rover drives past them, but the film is set in 1995.

* Miscellaneous: Typo in credits: when the performers for each rugby team are listed, it is the Springboks, the All Blacks and the England Rose's. It should be England Roses (no apostrophe.)

* Factual errors: Nelson Mandela's PA, Zelda La Grange, is cast as a black woman, when in fact she is white.

Triva from the IMBD database

# The word "invictus" is Latin for "invincible." It is also the name of a short poem written in 1875 by William Ernest Henley, a British poet. The poem was written while Henley was in hospital having to have his stricken foot amputated. Mandela is heard saying lines from the poem.

# The filmmakers wanted a well-known British actor to play Francois Pienaar's father and auditions were made from December 2008-March 2009. It was finally decided to cast a lesser-known South African actor instead.

# According to Laurence Mitchell, the head of the Cape Film Commission, "in terms of stature and stars, this certainly is one of the biggest films ever to be made in South Africa."

# Nelson Mandela himself has said that only Morgan Freeman could portray him. And so Freeman was the first actor cast.

# To prepare for his role as Francois Pienaar, Matt Damon took intensive coaching at the Gardens Rugby Club under Chester Williams, who himself was a player in the South African rugby team of 1995.

# Jonah Lomu is portrayed by Zak Feaunati, who was once a player of the Bath Rugby team and is currently ahead of Rugby at Bishop Vesey's Grammar school in Sutton Coldfield.

# Morgan Freeman and his producing partner Lori McCreary had been developing a movie about Nelson Mandela (a.k.a. Madiba) for years. They were originally trying to adapt Mandela's autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom" but since the story spanned many decades it would be impossible to completely translate into a feature film.

# Screenwriter Anthony Peckham is a native of South Africa, which gave him a special insight to the story's era.

# Before production began, Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary made a trip to South Africa to get Nelson Mandela's blessing for the film. According to McCreary, Freeman started off by saying, "Madiba, we've been working a long time on this other project, but we've just read something that we think might get to the core of who you are..." Before he had finished, Madiba said, "Ah, the World Cup." For McCreary, that was "when I knew we were heading in the right direction."

# Morgan Freeman, who has been a friend of Nelson Mandela for many years, prepared for his role as Mandela by watching some tapes of him to perfect his accent and rhythm of speaking. However, the most difficult part was Mandela's charisma, which could not be duplicated: "I wanted to avoid acting like him; I needed to BE him, and that was the biggest challenge. When you meet Mandela, you know you are in the presence of greatness, but it is something that just emanates from him. He moves people for the better; that is his calling in life. Some call it the Madiba magic. I'm not sure that magic can be explained."

# Matt Damon made a visit to Francois Pienaar's home to ask Pienaar for assistance in preparing for his role. When Damon got to his house, Pienaar answered the door and for a few minutes they simply looked up at each other. Then Damon said "I look much bigger on camera." This broke the tension, and Pienaar prepared a gourmet dinner for Damon. Pienaar later claims he was impressed by Damon: "He's a great bloke. I was struck by his humility and his wicked sense of humor. He wanted to learn everything he could about me, my philosophy as a captain and what it was like for us in 1995. We also chatted about the game of rugby, what happens in training and about the technical aspects. We had a lot of fun."

# Matt Damon informed Clint Eastwood about Francois Pienaar's distinct physique: "You know, this guy is huge!" Eastwood replied, "Hell, you worry about everything else. Let me worry about that." By structuring set-ups and camera angles, Eastwood was able to make the average-height Damon look about Pienaar's height.

# The actors playing the New Zealand rugby team, the All Blacks, had to learn the traditional Maori war chant, the Haka, which is performed at every game to intimidate rival teams. Out of a sense of verisimilitude and respect, the crew contacted the New Zealand Rugby Association to make sure the Haka would be done correctly. They sent over a Haka expert named Inia Maxwell, who assisted in Haka/rugby training and was present when the Haka was filmed so that it was portrayed accurately.

# Nelson Mandela's visit to the Springbok training camp was filmed in an area called Tokai (Cape Town). According to Clint Eastwood, when the crew arrived that morning they discovered some unusual spectators around the site: a group of baboons. "We had to wait until the baboons exited, but as soon as the players got out there, they would stay on the sidelines or up in the trees. They looked at us like they were wondering, 'What kind of crazy people are these?'" the director laughs.

# The exterior scenes of Nelson Mandela's house were done at his actual residence in Johannesburg, while the interior scenes were shot in a home in Cape Town.

# The president's office, where Nelson Mandela and Francois Pienaar first meet, was filmed in the offices of the Union Buildings, the seat of government in the capital city of Pretoria. It marked the first time any movie had been filmed there.

# All the rugby games were filmed at Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium, where they had actually been played. Much of the stadium has changed since 1995, so James J. Murakami gathered extensive research to take the venue back to the way it looked, including the appropriate signage of the time. Computer graphics were later employed to complete the effect.

# Nelson Mandela's personal assistant, Zelda la Grange, complimented the work of production designer James J. Murakami and his team: "I know the house so well and they recreated it to perfection. The environment even felt the same. And then I heard Morgan Freeman speak - I didn't see who it was at first - and I thought, 'Now how did Mr. Mandela get here?'"

# When filming the games, there were only 2,000-plus extras in the stands. Using motion-capture techniques, the visual effects team was able to "sell out" the stadium with 62,000 fans.

# Costume designer Deborah Hopper had to bring back the look of 1995 in regard to the Springbok uniforms, since the current team's outfits are not the same: "There is a lot of difference in the uniforms. In 1995, the shorts were much shorter and the jerseys were cut fuller and boxier. And the fabric they used at that time was cotton; now it's synthetic. We had to have the fabric specially knitted for us." Hopper and her team also had to duplicate the uniforms of the other teams, including the logos, many of which have also changed (in fact, the Springbok on the South African rugby team's logo is facing the opposite direction from the logo of 1995).

# When the film came about, composer Kyle Eastwood was at a jazz festival in South Africa, so Clint Eastwood sent him to scout around and meet local music groups to see what he could find.

# Nelson Mandela's favourite band, the Soweto String Quartet, was hired to work on the film.

# During the making of this film, Clint Eastwood became a fan of rugby. While in South Africa, he would watch hours of rugby every night and come in the next morning and talk about the games. Eventually, he began to enjoy the games.