Invictus

This is a great movie. Watching it really gives you a feel for how improbable Mandela was. The most improbable man in the most improbable nation. South Africa is like fiction. The man spent something like 30 years in a cell and came out a forgiving and thoughtful leader. It makes me wonder about good leaders and what their real effect can be on a society. Sometimes I wonder if South Africa is just running on Mandela's momentum. The leadership of SA following Mandela seems less than stellar from my outsider perspective. How cynical it feels to say that a society sometimes won't do what it needs to do for itself and a brilliant leader needs to come along, but I really think that without the moderating/inspirational leadership of Mandela South Africa might have seen far more blood and gone the way of Zimbabwe long ago.