"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." This phrase struck me as I am watching the film "Invictus". Invictus by the way is a victorian poem that inspired Nelson Mandela during his time in prison. The film simply tells a story of how a sport (rugby) had impacted on the "color" division in South Africa. I was amazed that the backdrop of the film actually happened in real life. 

The movie was led by Morgan Freeman acting as Nelson Mandela, one of the famous political leaders of all time and Matt Damon as Francois, the captain of the Rugby team. As Nelson Mandela was elected as the president of South Africa, he carried as a burden the great divide in the country - the battle between the black and white people. In the movie, this divide was made obvious as the black people - who are by the way reigning as they have a black president - tries to seek revenge with whites in every way possible such as abolishing the "Springboks" the national rugby team of South Africa. The issue may be a little frog in a big pond, but Pres. Mandela took this as an opportunity to transform its nation into "one team and one country". 

As I watched the film, I was reminded of the feeling of "heartfelt victory" that I felt when Gilas Pilipinas won against Korea. As the first movie that I've watched this 2015, I guess the "Invictus" poem will linger for a while. Hopefully this will inspire me to do better in 2015. :)