'Invictus' filmanalyse om Nelson Mandela

The title “Invictus” means undefeated or ”uovervindelig/ ubesejret” in Danish. It means if you fight hard enough then you will win at last. You are captain of your own soul. It’s a poem William Ernest Henley (1849-1903) has written. When Mandela was in prison he survived by using the poem. The story is based on the book “Playing the Enemy” which is written by John Carlin (2008). The film takes place in South Africa in the year 1995.The movie is from the year 2009 but is about the situation in South Africa twenty years earlier. The movie is about the fight against apartheid and the relationship between black and white. The film shows the problem from both the white and the black side. I remember a scene where a boy doesn’t accept receiving a shirt because it is not acceptable for him to receive anything from a white person even if he very much likes to have the shirt. In front of the shirt a logo of a white ruby team is printed and the boy knows that he will be beaten by his friend if he wears the blouse. The movie tells us that it is not only the white who is evil and will not give anything to the black people. In the end of the movie the relationship between black and white has been changed. The philosophy of Mandela is that everyone has a positive attitude and if you give love, love will be returned. To trust and accept each other is a big problem in the beginning of the movie but the film shows us how Mandela solves the situation in South Africa. The most important characters are Nelson Mandela and Francois Pienaar. They are starring in the movie. Francois came from a rich white family and he is the national team coach in rugby for South Africa. Nelson Mandela was the first black president in South Africa. He was in prison for twenty-three years at Robben Island earlier. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 before he became president.