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14 December 2009 1 Comment

Critic Review for Invictus from the Washington Post

There are several reviews out there of Invictus, but this one comes from Margaret via the Washington Post, thanks so much for sending me the link! Also I am finally going to see the movie myself tonight with a few teammates…I am so pumped! What did you think of the movie?

If 2009 had a most valuable player award for the movies, it would have to go to Matt Damon. Whether he’s appearing in “The Informant!,” a Sarah Silverman Web parody or in Clint Eastwood’s stirring post-apartheid drama, “Invictus,” he has been consistently spot-on and almost breathtakingly self-effacing. He has become that most unlikely Hollywood rarity: a character actor with a matinee-idol face.

In “Invictus,” Damon plays Francois Pienaar, the captain of the South African rugby team the Springboks, which in 1995 won the World Cup. The movie tells the story of that unlikely and politically crucial victory, which as much as anything was the result of the gentle coaxing and adamantine moral suasion of the country’s new president, Nelson Mandela.

Morgan Freeman doesn’t play Mandela as much as inhabit the man, in a performance that seems to embody the very transcendence that Mandela himself has come to stand for. Freeman captures with perfect pitch the inner workings of a man who, put in charge of a country still ravaged by the still-fresh violence and injustices of apartheid, sees an opportunity for healing in the rites and rituals of sport. His job is to forge within the black community a sense of identification with a mostly white team that for years has represented oppression.

Eastwood adopts a flat, uninflected style for “Invictus,” wisely letting this remarkable story tell itself with a minimum of flourish or underlining. The result is a thoroughly absorbing, inspiring movie that, like last year’s “Milk,” features one of the year’s most galvanizing performances. Freeman doesn’t merely impersonate Mandela as much as personify not just political genius but an almost superhuman suppleness of character. Rugby is exciting, sure, but there’s nothing more thrilling than radical forgiveness in action.

Popularity: 3% [?]

23 September 2009 0 Comments

Morgan Freeman’s Gift to Rugby Fund

from Times Live:

HOLLYWOOD actor Morgan Freeman has pledged R100000 to an organisation that helps rugby players whose careers are ended by injury.

Freeman, who will play Nelson Mandela in a movie about the Springboks’ 1995 Rugby World Cup triumph, made his donation in a telephone conversation with the national team’s captain, John Smit, last week.

Freeman’s donation was 10% of the R1-million raised at the 13th annual Bell’s Night of the Stars extravaganza and telethon, at the International Conference Centre, Durban.

The event, broadcast by Supersport, attracted support from rugby fans around the country — and, as it turned out, from around the world.

It was attended by the entire Springbok rugby team, which donated R50000.

Smit said he was glad his squad could contribute to the cause.

The organisers of the Chris Burger/Petro Jackson Fund welcomed Freeman’s donation.

The fund was started by the SA Rugby Union after Burger broke his neck and died while playing for Western Province in the Currie Cup final in 1980.

His Western Province captain, Morne du Plessis, now the fund’s chairman, was among those involved in setting up the fund that year.

Club rugby player Jackson, from Kylemore in Stellenbosch, was paralysed in a match in 1989.

The fund’s manager, Gail Ross, said: “[Freeman] had expressed interest in donating [to the fund] when he was in the country, so we gave him a number and a time when he could call in to make the donation live.”

Popularity: 1% [?]

4 August 2009 0 Comments

England to host 2015 RWC, Japan 2019

from IRB.com:

IRB Council Selects England as RWC 2015 and Japan as RWC 2019 Hosts

The International Rugby Board Council has awarded Rugby World Cup 2015 to England and Rugby World Cup 2019 to Japan. The decision, which was approved by a vote of 16 to 10, ratifies Rugby World Cup Limited’s recommendation announced last month.

IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset made the announcement at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin and congratulated all four bidding Unions. “All the tenders were of a very high standard and each Union demonstrated that they could host an excellent Rugby World Cup. It is a tribute to the health of the Game and the enormous prestige of RWC that the competing bids were so strong,” said Lapasset.

Rights-Free Photographs: www.gettyimages.com/Editorial/Publicity.aspx
Audio reaction: On IRB website HERE >>
Video News release: Available, see details below

“Both Italy and South Africa submitted extensive and compelling tenders. I would like to thank them on behalf of the IRB Council for the quality of their work and their dedication to the process. The Tender Analysis Report and the RWCL Board’s recommendation were carefully studied by the Council and their assessment concluded that the selection of England and Japan would provide the best combination of host Unions to drive the ongoing development of the Game worldwide.

“We believe that the succession of England and Japan as host nations for RWC will create new opportunities and help maximise commercial revenues for re-investment in the Game. It is an exciting combination for Rugby World Cup and one which we think will enable the sport to reach developing Rugby markets and therefore contribute to the continued growth of the Game and its values worldwide,” added Lapasset.
“The commercial success of RWC is an important element in the progression of our Game and means that developing Rugby markets be considered for the tournament to both reflect and assist the Game’s strategic vision and evolution.

“We are confident that England will deliver a spectacular tournament in 2015 and that Japan, as the first Rugby World Cup host nation in Asia, will mark the beginning of a very exciting chapter in the history of this great tournament. I would like to congratulate both Unions on their selection and the IRB looks forward to working with them on what promise to be two very special Rugby World Cup tournaments,” added Lapasset.
The announcement of the RWC 2015 and RWC 2019 Host Unions is the culmination of an extensive tender process that kicked off in August 2008. It is also the first time that two tournaments have been awarded at the same time.

As the world’s third-largest sporting event, Rugby World Cup is the driving force behind the global development of Rugby worldwide. The tournament’s commercial success provides the IRB with the platform to invest up to £150 million between 2009-2012 across all 116 Member Unions in the form of annual Union grants and the Strategic Investment Programme that is designed to increase the competitiveness of the Game.

Popularity: 1% [?]

3 August 2009 0 Comments

Rugby Video Monday: ESPY Awards Highlights 1995 Rugby World Cup and Nelson Mandela

If you haven’t seen the powerful video from the 2009 ESPY awards concerning the 1995 Rugby World Cup video, check it out below! The 2009 ESPY Awards were held at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening. The event hosted by Samuel L. Jackson was hyped to be one of the best ESPYS of all time as in the past year we have seen great sporting performance throughout the sporting board.

The night was reserved for two very special awards, Athlete Of The Year and The Arthur Ash Courage Awards. Former South African President Nelson Mandela was honoured with the Arthur Ash Courage award for the way in which he united a country that has been racially dived for nearly half a century through sports. Mandela used the 1995 Rugby World Cup which was held in South Africa to bring all South Africans as one, to see each other as equals and erase the past that has divided South Africa. With the inspiration and motivation Mandela gave the Springboks, the South African rugby team went on to win the Rugby Cup World and through that moment 43million South Africans were united in an act of magic, the ‘Madiba Magic’.