The Invictus movie tells of an inspiring story about Nelson Mandela uniting with the Springboks captain Francois Pienaar in an attempt to unite the South African country, a country due to apartheid is divided across racial and economic aspects. The two presume the roles of the heroes in the Invictus movie in an endeavor that they will end up uniting the country through the love of sport. The entire movie has employed Joseph Campbell’s concepts on how to become a hero, how he is nurtured, designed and prepared to become a great hero in society. The journey President Mandela faces before achieving the success of uniting the blacks and the white was faced with hurdles through every stage. The people never supported their home team yet they supported their opponents. This movie tries to examine Mandela’s breath taking leadership act of uniting the nation through back stage. The invictus movie shows how Mandela became a real champion. His collaboration with the Springboks rugby team captain plus the people was a remarkable move of his courage and vision which led to uniting the people and the victory of their team. Mandela through his strategies in the movie makes him a hero at the end of the movie.
The hero journey according to Campbell starts with what could be termed as a call Campbell says that when there is a call by destiny and it happens unconsciously, it may be getting lost in a forest but the hero does not at the moment understand what is going on (Campbell and David, 46). Mandela wanted the South African people to unite and support their team regardless of their races and he was able to achieve it. This incident is familiar in the movie as well. While Mandela is in Victor Verster Prison where he spent 27 years in Jail, he had absolutely no idea that this was a significant happening in his life. This was actually a critical stage for his heroic life since his experience helped him unite the people in the end. It is while he is in this prison that he reads and loves a poem known as ‘Invictus’ which can then be translated to mean ‘undefeated’. Actually, this poem ended up guiding him on how he would use the rugby to reunite the citizens. He was able to unite the citizens through the rugby team. Towards the end of the movie, President Nelson Mandela takes the Springboks team captain and the other members of the team to the prison where he spent 27 years of his life. He reads to them the poem that motivates them so much. The poem was a motivation to the players and that is what Mandela wanted. Campbell states that, a challenge to threshold can be an encounter with the dark counterpart, a situation in which the hero comes face to face with a very dark shadow or environment (Campbell and David, 98). This is what happened to Mandela, he was in prison for 27 years. The hero for this case felt like he had been chopped into pieces. Even though Mandela was through ups and downs while in prison, in the movie he indeed becomes a hero by re-uniting the people and making them support their home team which initially, they were against.
According to Campbell, a hero is wrenched with knowledge from the deepest abysses of their unknown self that results to the demons being loosed thus weakening their vengeance (Campbell and David, 64). The hurdles seem to be the main journey. In the film, Nelson Mandela is released on 11th February of 1990. Four years from that time, he is democratically elected as the first ever Black President of South Africa. He however does not have an easy ride for he is facing all challenges erupting from the post-Apartheid era. The racial divisions would probably lead to enormous violence. To add to his woes, the blacks are opposed to supporting their own rugby team which they perceive as their oppressor. They categorically cheer any team that plays against their own Springboks. Further still, his security personnel have racial issues. White and black officers seem to disrespect and lack to appreciate what their fellow’s expertise. Mandela is faced with all these dark forces but he strategizes on how to overcome them. His strategy was to seek to talk with the Springboks rugby team captain, Francois Pienaar and urges him that they have to win the world cup in order to reunite the country. Through talking to people into supporting the team, Mandela was able to overcome racial issues and there was respect since all the races started supporting the rugby team and this brought unity to all races. All this seemed unlikely but with time, his plans delivered results as the black citizens’ end up supporting the team they never supported. The security officers respect and like each other, and the citizens are reunited upon the win of the rugby world cup. Mandela had to put an end to this and this can be seen with his words “The rainbow nation starts here, Reconciliation starts here, Forgiveness starts here" (invictus).
Campbell through expounding his concepts of a hero takes us through the story of a frog and a princess. The frog was a prince who was cursed by an old hag and then ends up rescuing a golden ball that the princess lets fall into muddy water. The princess had not known this until he kissed the frog upon which he turns to a very handsome prince. Towards the conclusion of a heroic story, the aspect of ‘happily ever after’ tends to pop up towards the end. The same case happens in the movie, Invictus. When the Springboks were playing The All Blacks in the final, a massive home support of both races showed up to support the team. Pienaar and the team mates are motivated. The Springboks won the match with a score of 15-12 on added time through a drop-kick from Joel Stransky, a fly-half. Mandela and Pienaar celebrate upon meeting on the field together amazed by this unexpected and improbable victory. As the movie ends, Mandela is driving away in the traffic jammed streets watching South Africans celebrating together and he happily utters the word, ‘Invictus’. Mandela’s efforts were not in vain and this can be seen when he celebrates while driving away. He was a hero who was able to unite the people through the rugby sport.
Works Cited
Campbell, Joseph, and David Kudler. Pathways to bliss: mythology and personal transformation. Novato, Calif.: New World Library, 2004. Print.
Invictus. Dir. Clint Eastwood. Perf. Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, 2009. Film
