Invictus

A simple, heartwarming tale that will likely pick up a couple of Oscars; and that's about what this deserves.
It'll probably go down in the annals of the first of the Nelson Mandela movies, the one that just focusses on the rugby. It rather has to, but at least isn't complete hagiography. Though Morgan Freeman speechifies too much at the start, he makes a game go of the accent and characterisation. If it wasn't exactly Nelson Mandela, it was a fine man he played. And, hey, it's a movie.
Matt Damon does the required business, even if he is a little small. One of the better points of this movie is that it didn't try to do too much; it could have portrayed Mandela as God and Pienaar as Jesus, but is a bit too good for that. It realises these are two humans, a man and a rugby player, who do what they do. The central message of forgiveness is unnuanced, simply presented, and the better for that. It isn't stupid, but it also isn't pretentious. It tells a good, simple story without embellishment necessary beyond the straight facts of some inspiring moments.
What makes this film positively a pleasure to watch is the direction. Clint Eastwood puts the procedures through so well, the scenes flowing from one to the next seemlessly, you nearly want to laugh at his effortless skill. The cuts are perfectly timed, the build up to the final moments are built up without noticing. Maybe that's the best thing that can be said about the film; the story's so well told, you forget to remember to feel moved and simply feel, well, moved. We felt a reddening of the eye as it came to the conclusion.
The end, indeed, just about stays the right side of sentimental. A few cliches are snuck in, but we can forget a few nods to the sports movie genre conventions. The conclusion is just like the rest of the film; not overegging the rosy-gardened messianic pudding, but letting us in to that little bit of joy.
This made us want to watch every movie Clint Eastwood has directed. This particluar example of his is a straightforward, well told, not at all overdone, well made portrait of a historical event. Thumbs up.