Film Review: Invictus

In class today, we watched the film Invictus. It is a film starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela, bringing up Mandela's struggle to recreate a stable country after being elected as the president of South Africa.

Before the election, Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island for 27 years, punished for opposing the apartheid government. A government lead by white people following racist ideals. The movie's plot very much surrounds Mandela's unique attempt to gain the whole country's respect and trust. By unique, i mean that he acted in a very unexpected way. The people of South Africa expected vengeance. This caused fear upon the white population, and rebellious thoughts within the black population. After all, Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years. By white racists. However, Mandela learned a lot during his time in prison, and he surprices the world by swallowing every bit of the past. He says that if he were to make vengeful actions, it would only spread more fear among the white population. And he knows that the fear will destroy the country. His unexpected actions make an example for every citizen, black and white, that the only way for South Africa to be rebuilt is by forgiving the events from the past.

By restricting and persuading the angry, black population and forgiving the whites, Mandela manages to gain respect from both sides, even though the incidents of the past were horrible. This movie showed just how the most incredible is possible as long as one's intentions and attitude are righteous.

Jeremy Gilley and the Peace Day

Today we were introduced to the international Global Peace Day, the day that represents global peace, seize-fire, and non-violence. We learned about Jeremy Gilley, the founder of the Peace Day, and after that we were lucky enough to have an exclusive skype call with him! He told us about how his organization managed to officially invent the Global Peace Day, about the two documentaries he made, and about their purpose. My impression of him was very clear from the beginning to the end; what a passionate and energetic person! He passionately told us about some of the most important and impacful events that he had been part of, and how the implementation of Peace Day had made it possible to save thousands of lives. We watched two films about Jeremy and the Peace Day aswell, and I was left with a clear image of Jeremy's ambitions and what Global Peace Day actually is. Jeremy's goal is to create awareness of the Peace Day, and make as many people as possible believe in and remember it. That way, he hopes to make a change to mean people's behavior, and also that an effective Peace Day, any successful result of the day, could work as inspiration for people to believe. Believe in that world peace is actually possible.