"INVICTUS"
Movie Review
by Kevin Carr

There are a few things you can expect to happen on a yearly basis... paying your taxes by April 15th, watching the insanity of Black Friday the day after Thanksgiving and Clint Eastwood releasing a movie just in time for award season.

Eastwood is hit-or-miss in this yearly tradition. “Million Dollar Baby” won the Oscar (although I didn’t think it was the best movie of the year). “Letters from Iwo Jima” was far better than “Flags of Our Fathers” and was a very intriguing film but got forgotten in the major awards. “Gran Torino” was a hoot to watch but got snubbed in the major awards. (Am I forgetting “The Changeling” from last year? Or am I just shunning it for being gratuitous Oscar bait? Only history will be the judge of that.)

This year, Eastwood has trimmed down his normal Oscar hopeful duo to a single film, and that film is “Invictus.” The story follows newly elected South African President Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) as he assumes office and deals with the struggles of the now defunct Apartheid system. In the process of building a new government, Mandela takes interest in the South African rugby team and uses them as a rallying cry for a new united South Africa.

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