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United by the colour of the uniform.
Rugby Union has long been viewed in South Africa as a game for the white population, and the country’s success in the sport has been a true source of Afrikaner pride. When the 50-year-old policies and entrenched injustices of apartheid were finally overthrown in 1994, Nelson Mandela’s new government began rebuilding a nation badly in need of racial unity. So the world was watching when South Africa played host to the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Though they had only one non-white player, the South African Springboks gained supporters of all colors as they made an improbable run into the final match where they beat the heavily favored New Zealand team. When Mandela himself marched to the center of the pitch cloaked in a Springbok jersey and shook hands with the captain of the South African team, two nations became one. Oscar winner Morgan Freeman and director Cliff Bestall will tell the emotional story of that cornerstone moment and what it meant to South Africa’s healing process.
Avis de la communauté (1)
This is not a perfect sports documentary - despite having Freeman as narrator and despite the power of the subject matter, the film feels little too much like your typical talking heads/archival footage documentary. But the subject matter is so powerful that you stop caring about the conventional, paint-by-numbers nature of the documentary. If you have ever wondered about the importance of sports, if you have ever thought that sports don't matter, that they're silly, and so forth, watch this film. More than perhaps almost anything else I've ever seen, this film captures the power of sports as a uniting force for people of different backgrounds - in this case, people who felt like they were enemies. Wonderful.