INVICTUS

Ideas and themes from the movie

Below is a overview of some of the themes and concepts we can extract from the Movie INVICTUS.

THEMES
LEADERSHIP
SUCCESFUL LEADERSHIP IN NOT MADE
Successful leadership is not an ability everyone has. God given traits are what make someone a
successful leader. Mandela was an example of a successful leader. Out of all the black activists of
his time, he was almost unanimously chosen as the leader of his people, before being president.
He led them in their violent struggle against colonialist rule, even while in prison. He and his
leading members of the ANC spread a national campaign to an international one. He have vision
of native African justice and separation of the unjust and oppression colonial rule of white rule.
He sacrificed his life, family, time and effort until he achieved his goal. He had the ability to shift
his strategies to achieve the goal for his people and the greater good, form terrorism to
forgiveness and harmony. A series of fates and events came together for Mandela, which didn’t
happen for other leaders in South Africa before or after him.

FORGIVENESS
FORGIVESS IS A POWERFUL FORCE WHEN USED AT THE RIGHT TIME
A strong theme of the movie is forgiveness, embodied in Mandela forgiving the police force and
government who fought him, his family and people and caused them much hardship. A common
person would find it difficult to forgive one who killed and injured their loved ones. They would
also find it hard to give those who arrested them for standing up for justice and then imprisoning
them for 27 years. Even though that name more happened Mandela made the decision to forgive
them and move one with his vision to build the new South Africa. This forgives came a high price
as he had to fight against his own family and people who had a strong desire to vengeance. The
timing of his new principal of forgiveness, now in power, resulted in great support amongst
whites, colored and the international community. Eventually most of his own people and family
who shunned his new way of thinking.

CONCEPTS
EFFECT OF COLONIZATION ON A NATIVE POPULATION
THE DAMAGING EFFECTS OF COLONIZATION HAS GREAT CONSEQUENCES
Colonization in South Africa, with the Portuguese then the Dutch then the British bout the white
European populations to South Africa. They invaded a country, killed and displaced many of the
native people. The elitism grounded is evolutionary superiority fuelled hate and violence and
other injustices against the African natives. This reached its low point with the establishment of
Apatite.
CHANGE
CHANGE IS INEVITABLE, GOOD OR BAD

The history of any nation is full of change, especially in those nations that underwent
colonization. South Africa like many other Dutch and British colonies, form its inception, is full of
change: change from a native black African nation of tribes, to being invaded by European
colonialists, one after the other. Change for the proud African tribes to be looked down upon by
their oppressive rulers, and being treated as non-human. Change with a wave of other migrations
like the Indians, Malays further increasing the ethnic diversity of that nation. The main character
Nelson Mandela, is exemplary of change in this movie. Here we have a native African educated
by white system to become a lawyer, and a leader of the Black resistance movement. His
leadership then evolved into active terrorism to further the cause of Native independence.
Following his rise to presidency after the change of being punished in prison for 27 years,
Mandela changes once again to become the forgiving humanitarian leader to struggles even
against the goals of his own people to achieve a goal no other South African leader has ever
done, uniting all the various ethic races under one flag, one government, one man.