I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. Powerful Quotes ;an excerpt from the short poem by William Ernest Henly - Invictus. What more appropriate of a quote than that, to personify the undying efforts and the perseverance of a brother, leader and a mentor - Nelson Rohlihlahla Mandela. The president of South africa from the year 1994 -1999 and nobel Prize winner in the year 1993.An anti-aparthied activist - serving 27 years of prison sentence and to be elected president. Movies that portray the lives of such great leaders have always been a challenge to its Director and cast. A movie in this genre has to be carefully orchestrated. Since the subject matter is well known to society and portrayal of its characters and its stroyline, if not accurate and falls short of the real deal, can bring forward huge rows of unanticipated criticism. Clint Eastwood - Actor, Director & Composer - is not an amateur in anyway. However bringing back to the screens an historic icon as Mandela - surely has made the better of him. Initial scenes in the movie highlights and brings into the limelight the depth of how critically aparthied had been an issue in South Africa. However the power in the scenes were not as powerful as the reality of what was fought back in the early 80s & 90s as shown in the media failed to be given its true justice. Any movie that fails to start with full throttle will always fall short since the audience will not be able to grasp the contrast in the series of events in the end. A steroetype example would be, what good is a horror movie that wont scare you? Invictus - is a very powerful movie ,and does address all the predominat issues and highlights the factors that Mandela had to face back in his time as president.Each scene engineered in the movie was brilliantly executed by Morgan Freeman who seemed a good gamble to portray Mandela. Morgan Freeman who is well know to all of us for his voice - brings the authoritive dimension of Mandela that brought forth such a success during his tenure. Morgan Freeman who is not at all a stranger to the big screen already has a nomination on the table for an academy award for his role in the movie - Invictus. This outcome alone brings justice and also makes things easier for me to explain how well he fit into his role. Invictus although powerful fell short in many aspects due to involvement of the sport of Rugby. At one point of time, I belive there was a confusion to me if the movie was to portray the significance of the ending of an era of aparthied or the achivement of the world cup which bring south Africa on the maps. Although it is a chain reaction - 2 hours or less of screen time was not sufficient to wrap the entire story - therefore the sybolism expected to create via the sport of Rugby also created a split focus in the story line - which at one point drained the power out of the storyline. Matt Damon although he did play big role in this movie - got me thinking - it would not have made a difference if they used Damon or if they used a newbie for the role for the character was too plain and was boring to watch. The inspirtation in the story, lied in the life of Mandela which was portrayed by Freeman, the scenes in how he behaved, spoke, treated his staff were the only moments that the movie managed to score points with me. The Rugby in the movie although it split my focus - was a tool Eastwood used to bring out the final finesse in Freeman. I am not very thorough on how Eastwood could have used this tool to highlight the protagonist whilst not sapping the power in the script. Invictus sums up as Potent,powerful & Inspiring ; Yet falls short in finesse. An effort worthy of applause and effort worthy of review and an effort which could have used one more final edit. ~Invictus~ I thank whatever gods may be, For my unconquerable soul. I am the master of my Fate I am the captain of my soul. I am just a regular movie buff and this is just how I saw the movie and how I felt about it - No more no less…..

Written by Troy Manatunga