Day# 17 - Week iii - 2010

As per Invictus, it was mixed feelings that we were left with.

On the one hand, it is a great story, and even more so since it is a true story. On the other though, it is just striking how few lines Matt Damon had in the movie. How can they portray such great leadership through a character that doesn't have a single line that goes for more than 10 words? Most of the movie, the rugby team captain is silent and thoughtful like the observer watching the movie. Almost letting the narrator inside your head take charge of doing real-time analysis, just like when you are at a museum staring at a painting with a thousand colors.

On the opposite end, the Mendela character, he was slightly better portrayed (and obviously this was a story about his achievement to unite an ethnically split country) so he got more lines to recite... that said, Freeman added huge presence and charisma to the role not only because he looks so much like Mendela (and I used to joke about that all the time), but also because Freeman knew how much of himself to put in that role, and not a tiny bit more.

Overall, a 4.5 / 5 on the story and the screenplay, but maybe a 3 / 5 on the script that made the film look more like a documentary that a movie about leadership.