© HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation What did the makers of the film Invictus choose to leave out about Nelson Mandela?

© HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation Objectives In this activity you will: Discuss whether the film Invictus is an accurate portrayal of events. Explore whether films can deliver accurate history.

© HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation Why make a film about a rugby match? Between 1948 and 1994, South Africa saw decades of apartheid. The black majority were denied the right to vote, were treated brutally by racist police and were forced to live in overcrowded townships with very few facilities. The whites, meanwhile, lived in the best houses on the best land.

© HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation Why make a film about a rugby match? Nelson Mandela was one of many people who decided to do something about this situation. He initially believed that the only way to end this system was by violent revolution. After being found guilty of blowing up an electricity substation, he served 27 years in Robben Island prison.

© HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation Why make a film about a rugby match? In prison, Mandela became convinced that forgiveness and reconciliation were the best ways forward. He learnt Afrikaans, the language of the minority white group who held all the power. He befriended his guards and got to know their history and passions – particularly rugby.

© HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation Once released, Mandela helped the last white President, F.W. De Klerk, negotiate an end to apartheid and introduce free elections to South Africa. Nelson Mandela became the first black President of South Africa.

© HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation Why make a film about a rugby match? The Rugby World Cup was held in South Africa in South Africa reached the final and Nelson Mandela attended, dressed in the green shirt of the Springboks, the mainly white national rugby team. The mostly white crowd called out ‘Nel-son, Nel-son’. The Springboks beat New Zealand and Nelson Mandela presented the trophy to the captain, Francois Pienaar.

© HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation To many people this image represented the new, ‘rainbow country’ of South Africa. The event was seen as such a turning point, and a film was made of the event called Invictus.

© HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation Why make a film about a rugby match? Many people watched the hugely popular film and yet some critics complained it missed key events out and made Mandela’s role look more important than it was. It left out details of Mandela’s early life. Viewers do not see the young Mandela, proud of his fit boxer’s body and immaculately dressed by the same tailor as South Africa’s richest white millionaire. It leaves out the food poisoning that affected most of the All Blacks team just two days before the final, after a group of Far Eastern gamblers bribed a waitress to poison the water served in their hotel.

© HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation To get you thinking… Why might film-makers want to give a positive impression of Mandela? What does this topic tell us about the problems of evidence? What does this tell us about the power of the media and our need to question it?

© HarperCollins Publishers 2010 Interpretation Historical interpretations Now its your turn… Is it ever morally right to only tell one side of the story? Similar criticisms have been made of the films Pearl Harbor and Engima. –Who makes history? –Do we always get all sides of the story? –Why do we have to be careful?