a great movie at a bad time.

last night i went to see the movie, invictus, with hamilton. it was a wonderful movie with a great story and fabulous accents and music. however, it is not a thriller by any means or a sweep you off your feet romantic movie. it is a movie about a man who has to fight through opposition of a country and a boy who has to scour up some strength and inspiration to lead his team to win the world cup. however, when i put it that way it sounds like any other sports movie... but it is not. i'm not a huge fan of sports movies (anyone surprised).

however, hamilton and i saw this movie at 10:00 PM and we were pinching ourselves trying to stay awake for the end. hamilton asked if i wanted to leave and i said no... i must see the way this ends! because, truly its a very good movie. but, we did not leave the theater until after 12:30.

i need to do more research on nelson mandel, on his faith and story. because i do not know details to the foundation of this man and this story. but, there were some wonderful gospel parallels and redemptive aspects to this film.

my favorite part in the movie is when matt damon is looking silently outside his hotel window. it is the day before the world cup. his girlfriend comes up behind him and asks, are you nervous about tomorrow (something to that affect). matt damon says no, tomorrow is already taken care of... meaning the preparation is the game. he said "I was thinking how a man could spend thirty years in prison, and come out and forgive the men who did it to him..."

the whole movie is a picture of nelson mandela's love for his country. even while people are either scorning him or praising him, he doesn't become discouraged. he forgives these people.

that's incredible. it's incredible that he was in prison for so long, and continues to fight for a country that still scorns him.

what's more incredible is the picture it paints of Jesus Christ and how He was completely scorned simply to forgive us. though, this may sound like a typical gospel parallel cliche... seeing a picture like that on the screen helps to understand the love Christ has for us even more. because, Jesus's love conquers the entire world... he was beaten to death and gave up everything simply to forgive us. if nelson mandela's story looks so incredible, how much more incredible does Christ's story look?