Invictus (2009)

Invictus is a 2009 biographical sports drama film directed by Clint Eastwood starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. The story is based on the John Carlin book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation about the events in South Africa before and during the 1995 Rugby World Cup, hosted in that country following the dismantling of apartheid. Freeman and Damon play, respectively, South African President Nelson Mandela and François Pienaar, the captain of the South African rugby union team the Springboks. Invictus was released in the United States on December 11, 2009. The title Invictus may be translated from the Latin as "undefeated" or "unconquered", and is the title of a poem by English poet William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). The film was met with positive critical reviews, with praise for both Freeman's and Damon's performances: Morgan Freeman's portrayal of Nelson Mandela was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor and Matt Damon was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
On 2 February, 1990, Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison after 27 years spent in jail. Four years later, Mandela is elected to be the first black President of South Africa. His presidency faces enormous challenges in the post-Apartheid era, including rampant poverty and crime. Mandela is particularly concerned about racial divisions between black and white South Africans, which could lead to violence. The ill will which both groups hold towards each other is seen even in his own security detail where relations between the established white officers, who had guarded Mandela's predecessors, and the black ANC additions to the security detail, are frosty and marked by mutual distrust.
While attending a game of the Springboks, the country's rugby union team, Mandela recognizes that the blacks in the stadium cheer against their home squad, as the Springboks represent prejudice and apartheid in their minds. He remarks that he did the same while imprisoned on Robben Island. Knowing that South Africa is set to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup in one year's time, Mandela convinces a meeting of the newly-black-dominated South African Sports Committee to support the Springboks. He then meets with the captain of the Springboks rugby team, François Pienaar (Matt Damon), and implies that a Springboks victory in the World Cup will unite and inspire the nation. Mandela also shares with Pienaar a poem, "Invictus", that had inspired him during his time in prison.
Pienaar and his teammates train. Many South Africans, both white and black, doubt that rugby will unite a nation torn apart by some 50 years of racial tensions. For many non-whites, especially the radicals, the Springboks symbolised white supremacy. However, both Mandela and Pienaar stand firmly behind their theory that the game can successfully unite the South African country.
Things begin to change as the players interact with the locals and start friendship with them. During the opening games, support for the Springboks begins to grow among the non-white population. By the second game, citizens of all races attend to support the Springboks and Mandela's efforts. Mandela's security team also grows closer as the various officers come to respect their comrades professionalism and dedication.
The Springboks surpass all expectations and qualify for the final match against New Zealand All Blacks—the most successful rugby team in the world then and now. Prior to the game, the Springbok team visits Robben Island, where Mandela spent 27 years in jail. There Piennar is inspired by Mandela's will and his idea of self-mastery in the poem Invictus. Pienaar mentions his amazement that Mandela "could spend thirty years in a tiny cell, and come out ready to forgive the people who put [him] there".
Supported by a large home crowd of both whites and blacks, Pienaar motivates his team. Mandela's security detail receives a scare when, just before the match, a jumbo jet buzzes the stadium, but it is not an assassination attempt but a demonstration of patriotism. The Springboks win the match on a last-minute long drop-kick from fly-half Joel Stransky (Scott Eastwood), with a score of 15–12. Mandela and Pienaar meet on the field together to celebrate the improbable and unexpected victory. Mandela's car is then seen driving away in the traffic-jammed streets leaving the stadium. As Mandela watches the South Africans celebrating together in the car, Morgan Freeman's voice is heard reciting the poem, "Invictus".

Cast

• Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela
• Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar
• Tony Kgoroge as Jason Tshabalala
• Julian Lewis Jones as Etienne Feyder^[4]
• Adjoa Andoh as Brenda Mazibuko
• Patrick Mofokeng as Linga Moonsamy
• Matt Stern as Hendrick Booyens
• Marguerite Wheatley as Nerine Winter
• Leleti Khumalo as Mary
• McNiel Hendriks as Chester Williams, the only black player in the Springbok team
• Scott Eastwood as Joel Stransky
• Zak Feaunati as Jonah Lomu
• Grant L. Roberts as Ruben Kruger
• Rolf E. Fitschen as Naka Drotske
• Vaughn Thompson as Rudolph Straeuli
• Charl Engelbrecht as Garry Pagel
• Graham Lindemann as Kobus Wiese
• Sean Cameron Michael as Springbok Equipment Manager

Success 2012: Chester Williams aka "The Black Pearl". He was the first non-white player to be included in the Springboks squad. Star winger of the South Africa national Springbok team that won the 1995 Rugby World Cup

Chester Mornay Williams (born 8 August 1970 in Paarl, Western Province, South Africa) is a former South African rugby union rugby player. He played as a winger for the Springboks from 1993 to 2000. Williams also played rugby for the Western Province in the Currie Cup.
Williams is best known as the star winger of the South Africa national Springbok team that won the 1995 Rugby World Cup against New Zealand and was nicknamed "The Black Pearl". Williams was selected in the initial squad, but had withdrew due to injury. He was later called back into the squad and first played in the quarter final, scoring 4 tries.
Nelson Mandela used South Africa's win in the World Cup to his advantage in progressing political and racial harmony in the country. Clint Eastwood directed Invictus, which is about the 1995 Rugby World Cup and how it helped South Africa heal after years of apartheid. It features many scenes involving Chester, including his face on the side of an SAA airplane and several scenes showing how black children in South Africa idolized him. Chester Williams is listed as one of the film's Rugby Coaches in the end credits. He is portrayed by McNeil Hendricks in the film.

Williams is only 1.74 metres (5 feet, 8 in) tall with a playing weight of 84 kilograms (185 pounds), a small man by rugby standards. He was the first non-white player to be included in the Springboks squad since Errol Tobias and his uncle Avril Williams in the early 1980s. The selection of non-white players was not common in South Africa before 1992 because of the country's policy of apartheid.^{[citation needed]}
He made his debut for the Springboks at the age of 23 against Argentina on the 13th of November 1993 in Buenos Aires, a game that the Springboks went on to win 52-23 and in which he also scored a try. Williams was on the Springboks team that won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, notably scoring four tries against Western Samoa in the quarter finals. His Boks career, hampered by knee injuries in 1996 and 1997, ended with a 23-13 win against Wales on the 26th of November 2000 in Cardiff. In total he played 27 games for the Springboks, scoring 14 tries. His honours included a Currie Cup win in 1999, with the Golden Lions, formally Transvaal Rugby Union, a Tri-Nations title in 1998 albeit he only made two short appearances as substitute and the World Cup win in 1995.

In 2001 Williams was selected as the coach of the South African sevens team that won bronze at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and ended runners up in the World Sevens Series. He remained sevens coach until 2003.
Also in 2002 Williams released his controversial autobiography, simply titled "Chester", in which he claimed that he was shunned by some of his team mates in the 1995 Springbok squad and even called him racist names.
Despite having almost no experience at coaching the fifteen-man code at any senior level, Williams was mentioned as one of the possible successors to Springbok coach Rudolph Straeuli after he resigned in 2003, but when the job was given to Jake White in 2004 he became coach of the Cats Super 12 team instead. He remained coach until July 2005 when he was fired after a series of extremely poor results, when the Cats finished next-to-last in the 2005 super 12, achieving only one victory. However, in 2006, he was brought back into the South African coaching ranks as the head coach of the national "A" side (a developmental side for the Boks).^.
He was named as the new coach of the Pumas, the team representing Mpumalanga in the Currie Cup, on 7 September 2006. He signed a two-year deal with the team, effective 1 October 2006, but resigned as coach in mid-2007.
He was one of the four named candidates to replace Jake White as Springbok coach. On 9 January 2008, Peter de Villiers was appointed as the next coach.^.
He was also one of the few South Africans invited to carry the Olympic torch in 2004 on its way to Athens.