The film INVICTUS, directed by Clint Eastwood, tells the inspiring and true story of how newly elected President Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joins forces with the captain of South Africa’s rugby team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), to help unite their country through sport and overcome economic and racial division in the wake of apartheid.
In the film, Mandela calls upon Pienaar to lead his team to greatness, joining forces to turn their individual hopes — the president, to unite his country; the captain, to lead the nation’s team to World Cup glory — into one shared goal with the motto “One team, one country” and citing a poem that was a source of inspiration and strength to him during his years in prison. It is later revealed that the poem is “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley.
A brief introduction was made by Mr. Thivhilaeli Makatu Counsellor, Bilateral at the South African Embassy to Belgium and Luxembourg and Janos Tisovszky, UNRIC Deputy Director.
