NEWSFLASH: Author John Carlin will be in South Africa from 7- 11 December to promote the big-screen release of Invictus!
This paperback edition of Invictus is a film tie-in version of John Carlin’s Playing the Enemy. The film Invictus, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar, will be released nationwide on 11 December 2009.
As the day of the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup dawned, and the Springboks faced New Zealand’s all-conquering All Blacks, more was at stake than a sporting trophy.
When Nelson Mandela appeared wearing a Springbok jersey and led the all-white, Afrikaner-dominated team in singing South Africa’s new national anthem, he conquered white South Africa.
Mandela’s genius was to transform that which divided black and white South Africa into a force for good. The green jersey of South Africa’s Springbok rugby team, which whites loved and blacks saw as a detested symbol of racial oppression, became the instrument around which Mandela chose to heal ancient wounds, unite the country and prevent a war. When Mandela stepped onto the field at Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg, on the 24th of June 1995 wearing the green and gold jersey, he captured the hearts of white South Africans, forging an unimaginably powerful patriotic bond with their black compatriots.
Invictus tells the extraordinary human story of how that moment became possible. It shows how a sport, once the preserve of South Africa’s Afrikaans-speaking minority, came to unify the new rainbow nation, and tells of how – just occasionally – something as simple as a game really can help people to rise above themselves and see beyond their differences. It is a story with the power to make grown men cry; a thrilling account of how the most charismatic statesman of our time deployed his wits and charm and generous vision to pull off this most unlikely of miracles.
About the author
John Carlin grew up in Argentina and in the UK and lived in South Africa from 1989 to 1995 as the Independent’s correspondent. He has also lived in Nicaragua, Mexico and Washington, writing for The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Times and The New York Times, among other papers, and worked for the BBC. He now lives in Barcelona, where he writes for El Pais.
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