The director Clint Eastwood continues his brilliant work on the line of racial tolerance, already interpreted in “Grand Torino” in 2008. This time he tells the story of the first democratically elected president of South Africa: Nelson Mandela.

Mandela (Morgan Freeman), called Madiba by the people as sign of respect, is elected president after 27 years of prison. In the early 90’s South Africa is still raged by the Apartheid, and the new president struggles to bring people to unite as a nation. His approach, at first misunderstood, takes the country into a historical journey out of the chaos.

But this movie is not about politics, it is about the people. Mandela knows that understanding and acceptance have to happen right here and right now, so he starts by his own crew. He continues in more global range by giving the people a hero: the Capitan of the South Africa rugby team. Inspired by the president’s example, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), makes the team a national pride, leading them into becoming World Cup Champions in 1995. The genius of director Eastwood is in the focus on the process that South Africans have to go through, to unite with those, who they fought against the day before.

No surprise in the 2010 Oscar® nominations: Actor in leading role for Freeman and Actor in supporting role for Damon, although an Art Direction would have been perfectly merited.

I recommend watching the movie in OV with subtitles: the accents are irresistibly charming, if not always understandable.