The events of Malouf’s novel Ransom and Eastwood’s film Invictus are both driven by the optimism and courage of their protagonists, respectively Priam the vanquished king of Troy, and Nelson Mandela the triumphant first black President of South Africa. As leaders of peoples harbouring profound historical animosities, it is in large part their sense of hope enables them to transcend division to inspire change. This is manifest within the characters, their relationships to other people (both allies and foes), and their political relationships. Yet as powerful as this force is, its power is not infinite Ultimately both Priam and Mandela are able to bring change by reaching out to their enemies however in neither Ransom nor Invictus is that
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Living in a household in which his father fears that Mandela’s election will “drive us [Afrikaans] into the sea”, a sentiment echoed by the white rugby coach’s declaration in the film’s opening sequence that Mandela’s election has sent South Africa “to the dogs”, Pienaar’s openness to Mandela’s invitation to work together for South Africa culminates in the transformative scene inside Mandela’s Robben Island prison cell before the World Cup Final. The hopeful Pienaar, at last able to stand in Mandela’s shoes and to visualise the back-breaking labour that his decades of imprisonment entailed, begins to change by understanding something of Mandela’s experience. This could only have been achieved through Mandela’s desire for …show more content…
Eastwood presents Mandela’s challenge as immense. The juxtaposition in the opening sequences of the film of the manicured grounds of a white high school at rugby training with the dust-blown soccer match of the impoverished blacks; of the corrugated iron shanties, the poverty and unsealed roads of the black African settlements with the middle class prosperity of the Pienaars (as representative of white South Africa) is stark to say the least. Thus Eastwood makes Mandela’s ambition to improve South Africa through uniting the fiercely divided society a momentous challenge. When Mandela strides onto the stadium wearing the Springbok’s jersey to the rapturous applause of the crowd at the world cup final, the symbolism is crystal clear: it Mandela’s bold aspirations for a united South Africa are a signal that significant change is
Living in a household in which his father fears that Mandela’s election will “drive us [Afrikaans] into the sea”, a sentiment echoed by the white rugby coach’s declaration in the film’s opening sequence that Mandela’s election has sent South Africa “to the dogs”, Pienaar’s openness to Mandela’s invitation to work together for South Africa culminates in the transformative scene inside Mandela’s Robben Island prison cell before the World Cup Final. The hopeful Pienaar, at last able to stand in Mandela’s shoes and to visualise the back-breaking labour that his decades of imprisonment entailed, begins to change by understanding something of Mandela’s experience. This could only have been achieved through Mandela’s desire for …show more content…
Eastwood presents Mandela’s challenge as immense. The juxtaposition in the opening sequences of the film of the manicured grounds of a white high school at rugby training with the dust-blown soccer match of the impoverished blacks; of the corrugated iron shanties, the poverty and unsealed roads of the black African settlements with the middle class prosperity of the Pienaars (as representative of white South Africa) is stark to say the least. Thus Eastwood makes Mandela’s ambition to improve South Africa through uniting the fiercely divided society a momentous challenge. When Mandela strides onto the stadium wearing the Springbok’s jersey to the rapturous applause of the crowd at the world cup final, the symbolism is crystal clear: it Mandela’s bold aspirations for a united South Africa are a signal that significant change is