If you have watched great movie Invictus, by Clint Eastwood and starred by Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, you know well this beautiful story: historical leader Nelson Mandela, after freed by racist authoritarian regime of Apartheid, won the first democratic elections in South Africa, and, as president, used the Rugby World Cup and Springbok national team, which had always been a sport of whites and a symbol of oppression, to unify the country and mitigate hatred.
Well, this documentary for 30 for 30 series, released just one year after Invictus, is excellent too, and also brings Morgan Freeman (now, as producer and narrator, and not as Mandela). There are in the documentary additionally some interesting elements that could not be inserted in the fictionalized script of Eastwood's movie. First of all, here we have a much more detailed path of Springbock from the first training until the great final against New Zealand All Blacks. Besides that, the past of rugby, racial segregation and black political struggle in South Africa is much more discussed. A great surprise for me in the documentary was the existence of a far right racist Nazi-like terrorist opposition to democratization, with its red flag that reminds swastika one, its military training and its coward bomb explosions. Another interesting absent character in Invictus who appears here is conservative leader Koos Botha, who also made a racist terrorist attack. He gives several testimonies along the documentary and talks about his surprise for Mandela's generosity to invite him for peace and democratization dialogues towards the future South Africa.
Documentary has great footage, very nice information and is very moving. It is certainly among the very best of ESPN films and 30 for 30 episodes.