Invictus - A review

Why do good things happen to bad people? What should you do when you are a victim of racism and hatred and relegated to a prison for a major part of your life? What should you do when you spend the best phase of your life doing ‘nothing’? What do you do when your dreams vaporize and your loved ones leave you? If there is a God where is he when it hurts?

These are questions that ought to plague anyone who has experienced all of these in his life. The typical response to these by individuals as well as nations have resulted in us fighting more wars that all that has been fought over the past two thousand years.

When confronted with these questions by his guard, Mandela responds saying, ‘“Reconciliation starts here. Forgiveness starts here, too. It liberates the soul. That is why it is such a powerful weapon.” What an astonishing and shocking response?

Invictus paints a portrait of the towering figure of Nelson Mandela, who stood the test of time, hatred and vengeance and came out giving a real life response to the questions posed above. Rather than choosing to get back, he chooses to go down in service. Rather than choosing to fight back, he chooses to serve those who hated him and caused him so much pain in prison. Here lives a man who turned the tides against him and inspired a nation to be rebuilt breaking down the racial barriers between them to forge a ‘rainbow nation’. This is a rare glimpse in modern times where war is fought in the name of religion, nationality, race, color and language.

How can anyone respond this way to the worst atrocities committed at him and has taken his life away? Where does one get inspiration for such an ‘unearthly’ act? Such acts can only be inspired rather than taught.

Forgiveness is indeed a powerful weapon. Powerful - because it can actually bring about change than destruction. It takes more courage and faith to release someone who harms you without wanting to strike back. It takes more courage to stand down and ‘show the other cheek’ than to react back. It is humanly impossible to do it. The first one to model it lived 2000 years ago. He not only showed his other cheek but gave his own life away and prayed for forgiveness for the very same people who were killing him. It was He who empowered several others to do the same including Mandela. He has done that to each one of us already – even when we were still ignoring him and hurting him by our actions, thoughts, and desires everyday He took it all upon himself and brought us forgiveness. When we taste that forgiveness personally, our hearts gets transformed – He removes our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. He energizes us to do the impossible – forgive those who sin against us.