Going into June of this year, you'll hear quite a bit about how various nations have placed their futures in the hands (or feet) of a few futbol-playing stars and a team built on grit thanks to the seconds running down to the 2010 World Cup. But in 1995, South Africa hosted the Rugby World Cup and found itself an unlikely candidate for "inspirational story of the year" given its own team's lack of success. But that leaves out one crucial ingredient to the movie: the moving, unstoppable power of Nelson Mandela's spirit.

When Mandela (Morgan Freeman) becomes president of South Africa in 1994, he sets out to unite a nation divided by color. His involvement in decision-making related to the nation's rugby team, the Springboks, shows his own tendency to believe that sometimes the lives of others can serve as an inspiration, and his steadfast spirit convinces the team's captain, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), to believe as well. The film version, which is a dramatization of John Carlin's Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation, is immensely more emotive and thrilling, no doubt aided by its two principal actors and director Clint Eastwood, who all have a flair for these things. (In an interesting aside, two of Eastwood's sons are involved in the film itself, one as a musician and one as an actor).

The movie itself is quite moving. I know next to nothing about rugby so it wasn't quite as stirring as a movie about a sport that I'm more familiar with, say basketball, baseball, or soccer. But the uneasy truce that Pinaar and Mandela form in the first third of the movie grows into a more serious "buddy flick" that transcends their own relationship to exemplify the hope that Mandela has for the future of South Africa. This isn't a movie about sports; it's a movie about life and the way that, at our best, sports can bring us together and unify us for the betterment of our community. There is no depiction of hooliganism here, no demonizing of the other team, and no falsifying of corruption or incompetence to make this anything greater than it was. No, this is sports itself and the story of a team destined for something bigger than themselves.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, for South Africa, there is little to no hope of their escaping their group in this year's World Cup, but they weren't given much of a chance in 1995. Still, given that their country has worked for another fifteen years to bust through years of apartheid both potent and actualized, the film is a reminder of what can happen when we believe. Mandela believed, and he inspired Pinaar to believe. Together, they inspired the team to believe, and the team inspired a nation to believe, even one which saw even the Springboks' name and uniforms as part of the apartheid process. So, what can happen when we're inspired and we truly believe?

It's still a message today that needs to be heard. You might not live somewhere that is divided by black and white (unfortunately, neither fifty years after the Civil Rights Movement, it's not out of the realm of the possibility) but someone you know and maybe even love is being held down by prejudice and hate. And if you don't live there, well, I urge you to open your eyes! We're called to live on this great big ball of dirt together, either by biology, chance, or the creation of the almighty God, and either way, your life is a constant give-and-take of love and hate with others. You can choose to do nothing, and be nothing. Or you can choose to inspire and be inspired.

Pinaar had a choice in 1994. He could've blown off Mandela as crazy, or simply as other, as black. But instead, he chose to recognize the potential in Mandela's words, and in himself. And the rest? The rest is history.

The Blu-ray edition also includes a feature on Damon playing soccer, Eastwood's reflections, a standard version and a digital download, and much more eye candy!