MANDELA UNITES A NATION WITH RUGBY IN INVICTUS
The film Invictus, directed by Clint Eastwood, begins with the release of Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman), his election as president of South Africa, and focuses on his efforts to unite a country divided by race, with Blacks having high expectations and Whites fearful. The film ends in 1995, when the South African team, captained by François Pienaar (played by Matt Damon), wins the world rugby championship. During Mandela’s 24 years in captivity, he says, he studied Afrikaaners with all the diligence that he applied to his studies at law school. One lesson he learned was the importance of rugby to Afrikaaners, in particular the all-white Springbok national team. On hearing that the national sporting association has just voted to rename that team with an African name, he goes to the meeting in order to insist that the name must remain in interest of national unity. Then he invites François to have tea with him so that he can encourage the team to win in the interest of national unity, and makes similar gestures to other team members as well as the fans at rugby matches. Based on the book Playing the Enemy (2008) by John Carlin, the film demonstrates in other ways how Mandela was a statesman through his inclusive humanism. Few eyes will remain dry throughout the film, which has memorable epigrams, such as “Exceed your expectations!” and “I am the captain of my soul.” Perhaps the most important is what François says to Mandela after the latter congratulates: “Thank you for what you have done for the country.” In one emotional scene, the rugby team tours Mandela’s prison. Invictus (which means invincible and is the title of a poem that inspired Mandela) has been nominated by the Political Film Society as best film exposé and best film on democracy and human rights of 2009. It is a biography and biopic from which President Barack Obama might learn a lot. MH
CULTURAL CONFLICT GETS RESOLVED TWO WAYS IN OCEAN OF PEARLS, BUT WHICH IS BEST?
Sikh men wear turbans because they never cut their hair. At the beginning of Ocean of Pearls, Amrit Singh (played by Omid Abtahi) wonders why his father (played by Ajay Mehta) still practices customs from the old country after all the effort to move to the new country, Canada, and he learns why in a dramatic scene toward the end of the film. Amrit, however, has become a surgeon par excellence, an expert in transplant surgery who had developed a technique to keep transplantable organs three times their normal four-hour life. A hospital in Detroit asks him to fly from Toronto to make a presentation on his new technique. His presentation goes so well that the hospital administrator, Dr. William Ballard (played by Ron Canada), asks him to name his price for moving to Detroit to head an $80 million facility that would be a premier transplant surgical clinic, an offer he cannot refuse. Politics intervenes, however. When another surgeon is appointed without his permission, he realizes that they are competing to head the facility, as the board has not yet decided who will be in charge. Because his rival, a Caucasian, makes the presentation to the principal donor, Amrit believes that he must cut his hair to increase his chances. He must also defer to another well-connected physician, whose competence is out of date. A side plot, involving a patient needing a liver transplant, reveals further politics. Although her insurance does not cover the operation, Amrit defies Dr. Ballard by secretly putting her name on the list for transplant eligibility and then performing the operation under his nose when a liver is found. The operation is a success, but Amrit realizes that his medical idealism is rooted in the core beliefs of the Sikh religion and must decide whether to compromise his identity any further to gain fame and fortune. The subtext of the film, directed by Sarab Neelam, is that the United States imposes assimilation on newcomers without reflection, whereas Canada has evidently learned the virtues of multiculturalism. MH