A week or so ago, I wrote about my concern as to whether 'INVICTUS' the new movie based on the 1995 Rugby World Cup would live up to everyone's expectations and hoped that it would not spoil what has come to be a very precious memory, not just in my life, but in that of 40 odd million South Africans. 
What I did not expect though, was to actually learn so many more details of how that famous miracle came to be and unlike when you watch a film based on a true story from a previous era perhaps, one often walks away wondering which bits really happened and which were made up? But in this case, everybody knows, we are not only talking about something that happened in all of our life times, but also that Francois Pinnear and many others have been very involved with this film from the beginning and one feels immediately that it is a story being told exactly as it happened ... nuts, bolts and all, which of course, makes it all the more special and inspirational.
I for one am not ashamed to say that I wish I had taken tissues in with me ... especially when seeing the scenes of jubilation at the end in the Ferrymans pub at the V&A Waterfront ... just a few minutes around the corner really, from where I had been celebrating myself on June 24th 1995 in the exact same manner. There was a big difference though between me and them, which I only realised fully today having watched the film and the best way I can explain it is this... When I arrived in December 1994, although I did not realise it at the time .... it was as if I had picked up a book and started reading a novel, but instead of starting from the beginning, I had joined it in the last chapter ...thus reading the happy ending before, I had read the beginning. Since then, slowly but surely over the last 15 years, I have read the remaining chapters learning more each day about what this country and it's people have been through, to be where they are today. The film for me today, filled in all the pages of 'the book' that I may have skipped and made me realise that although that night in 1995 was certainly 'special' for me ... it could not have come close to the feeling of triumph and elation that every South African must have felt and deservedly so.
As I sat there watching the credits go up from one of the best films I have seen in a longtime - I smiled realising that the forthcoming 2010 FIFA Soccer world cup, was really the sequel to this amazing piece of history, except that this time I had had the privilidge of reading it from the beginning and with hopefully another happy ending on the horizon!
No comments:
Post a Comment