Watch the Trailer for Invictus: Is This the Next Best Picture?

Oscar-bait or feel-good parable?

The word "parable" comes from the Greek "παραβολή" (parabolē), the name given by the Greeks to a fictional allegorical tale used to narrate a larger truth.

On the other hand, this really happened.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0CYTbpjIP4

A man came out of a small cell where he'd been kept for 30 years without bitterness; he embraced his former captors; he embraced the Springboks, perhaps the most cherished cultural icon of white South African and Afrikaner culture, and despised by black South Africans throughout the apartheid era; he united the entire nation behind them; and then the Springboks did their part, winning the World Cup when no-one gave them a chance, in a sport which requires courage and commitment, and where the participants exhibit humility and gratitude for the privilege of representing their nations, in measures an LA-based NBA/NFL drenched movie reviewer can't begin to comprehend. SA captain Francois Pienaar said in best, in his post game comment, when asked of the tremendous support from the 65,000 South African fans present for the match."65,000 South Africans? We had 43,000,000 South Africans."

Oscar-bait, you say. This was a moment of undiluted grace. After 14 years, the self-absorbed, grievance-mongering world of Hollywood will finally learn of it. And next to it, one struggles to think of something more trivial, more insubstantial, than an Oscar.