[caladanbrood]

So I'm rather interested by this film. Morgan Freeman always seemed destined to play Mandela one day... it's a shame though that it seems to focus on the politics far more than the rugby.

Article: http://www.telegraph...t-a-nation.html

Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk...ental_prob.html

Trailer:




Any thoughts?

[alt146]

Saw it when it came out in December. It's not a bad film. The South Africans they cast were decent and Matt Damon was passable as Pienaar if a little bland. Freeman got a lot of Mandela's mannerisms down, but didnt quite nail the accent which was a little irritating. He also can't speak afrikaans at all and slaughtered the one afrikaans line they gave him

As for the content, I felt it was maybe slightly heavy handed and at times a bit info-dumpy to make sure everyone was up to speed. And while the movie isnt about rugby (it's about how Mandela used rugby to drive home his message of a unified South Africa) they could have gone about explaining what was going on in terms of the game gradually throughout, rather than suddenly making a fuss about what a monster Jonah Lomu was right before the final.

That and the one or two songs by Eastwood's son (at least I think it's his song, guy's name is also Eastwood and I'm sure I read somewhere that Clint's son was a musician), really didnt fit in.

That said, while the message was maybe a little hamfisted, I think Eastwood did a great job with the way he managed to slowly change the tone of the film throughout it's course.

I'd be curious to see what foreigners think of the movie. As a South African, my understanding of the history and how complex issues of race here can be is obviously a lot better than a foreigner and is probably the reason I felt it was maybe a little dumbed down.

[Soulessdreamer]

No matter how good the writing and directing the All Blacks still lose

TTFN

[Jusentantaka]

alt146, on 01 February 2010 - 03:27 PM, said:

I'd be curious to see what foreigners think of the movie. As a South African, my understanding of the history and how complex issues of race here can be is obviously a lot better than a foreigner and is probably the reason I felt it was maybe a little dumbed down.

I saw it, and left pretty meh to it. Heavy handed like you said and well, Matt Daaaaamon is a moron, and bland in every role, so that was no surprise. As far as the race issues, I've never been anywhere where they were not complex (except korea and 'kong, but that's another matter), and I've also never seen a movie that gets it right, so I wasn't expecting to be wowed by it here.

[WhiskeyJackDaniels]

I think Bill Simmons posted a good review of it. It was a very average movie and entertaining as it was, but he suggested they cut out the majority of Freeman's scenes, and make him like Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men. Basically an awesome actor that steals the scenes he's in, but doesn't dominate the movie. I think if they had focused more on the rugby it woulda been better.






...not that I know anything about rugy or Piennar