United by a Game?

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FILM ONLY REVIEW

South Africa is a country torn apart by colour and race and for newly released and elected President Nelson Mandela, he has his work cut out trying to unite the country. The Rugby World Cup is fast approaching and despite the fact his countries team is rubbish he sees a way to bring the country together.

Mandela has a meeting with the rugby captain, Francois Pienaar about how they can bring the team together and help to unite the race and colours in his country. The other team members are not happy about the plans at first but agree to start working with the underprivileged children and making them all know about and getting the rich to see just how big the divide is.

Can Mandela and the rugby team unite the country and how far ca they go in the World Cup?

I have been wanting to watch this film for some time now as the star was Morgan Freeman and I do like all the other roles he has played and always find his films a joy to watch. This one was no exception and the fact that this was a true story made it even better to watch and it did make the story seem more poignant. The storyline was superb and totally believable and I loved how it came across. There were a few small parts where I felt things seemed to be a little too easy but I have no recollection of how this panned out in reality so cannot comment on how accurate the film really was.

Morgan Freeman played the lead role of Mandela and he did a super job. He was strong but not overly so and he came across in a very good light being friendly and well mannered ad not bothered by colour or race. He delivered all of his lines with ease and made them believable but the one problem I did have was his accent. He tried very hard to put on a south African accent but as his voice is so distinctive normally he did have a problem making it sound authentic. The accent was only a small aspect of the character and I soon saw past this and managed to warm to him and get a good idea of how he thought and felt about things. He worked well with all the actors around him and I felt there was a good bond with his and his secretary. He managed to play his emotions very well when dealing with the family issues he had and I loved seeing the other side of him. Matt Damon played a very good role, playing the rugby captain and I enjoyed seeing how he took to the sport and the accent. He had the accent down to a tea and it came across as effortless. He also worked well with the sport scenes ad he did not look out of place on the rugby field.

We had some very good support actors in the film and to name a few we had, Tony Kgoroge, Matt Stern, Shakes Myeko and Bonnie Henna, they were all very different in their roles and did bring a little depth to the story.

The setting for the film was South Africa and I found it was all shown very well, we could clearly see the rich and poor divide and I found it to be well represented. I found all of the settings to be very in keeping with the story and so too were the props. The costumes were all very fitting for the year this film was set in and I found them all to be detailed and very accurate. We did not have many special effects in the film and none were really needed as it was not an action film. The music was also good and in keeping with the story and setting.

I am only reviewing the film so there are no bonus features for me to speak about. The DVD can be bought for around £5 now and I do think this is a great price. The running time of the film is 134 minutes and before watching I felt this seemed a little too long but once I had got into the story I completely lost track of the time. The rate is a 12A and I do agree with this.

I am more than happy to give this film a high recommendation and the full 5 stars as both me and hubby thoroughly enjoyed it. The story was excellent and made more so by the fact it is a true story and the acting was also of a high standard. The accent from freeman was not overly good but he was still strong with his delivery and emotions and I felt he did a superb job. You really don’t need to be a rugby fan to watch this film as this is only a small part of the story. Definitely one to watch.