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"Captain of My Soul"
It appears that In Contention's Kris Tapley has credibly confirmed that the title of Clint Eastwood's forthcoming South African rugby-and-racism drama (formerly known as The Human Factor or Playing The Enemy) is Invictus -- a Latin translation of invincible. The source is William Earnest Henley's 1875 poem "Invictus."
I've been in the tank for "Invictus" since my teenage years because of the phrase "bloody but unbowed," which Henley coined for the poem. Ditto "I am the master of my fate" (used ironically by Claude Rains' cynical gendarme in Casablanca) and "I am the captain of my soul."
Former South African president Nelson Mandela spoke respectfully of this poem, which kept him going during his 27 years of apartheid imprisonment.
But Mandela aside, let's be honest and concede that Henley's poem, which voices an eternal and profound truth about toughness and tenacity in the face of great adversity, has often been embraced and touted by right-wingers.
Last year John McCain recited a portion of it to William Kristol. Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh quoted a piece of it right before his execution, for Chrissake.
And a portion of Henley's poem was quoted verbatim by Robert Cummings in the final scene of Sam Wood's Kings Row ('42). Emedding the video has been disallowed so here's an mp3.
On top of which Cummings recites it to a bedridden Ronald Reagan, who no doubt took it to heart in his own private life (anyone of any fortitude who's dealt with setbacks would) and look what he turned into -- a popular and inspirational right-wing president who sewed the seeds of our current financial malaise in the early '80s. The father of our misery, according to Paul Krugman.
And Eastwood is a rightie, of course -- a fine fellow, a gentleman, a man of honor and respect and a jazzman par excellence, but nonetheless a man of conservative resolve who stood by McCain during last year's campaign and confessed a certain affection last fall for the demagogue Sarah Palin.
Matt Damon, Clint Eastwood on set of what is now apparently being called Invictus.
I've had my own moments of "Invictus" resolve, deciding absolutely that the bastards won't take me down, etc. I was at that point when things were going pretty badly in late '79, when money was low and my girlfriend had dumped me. I was so depressed at one point that I slept for three or four days straight. But I've never succumbed to that kind of lethargy since, and one reason is that I know for a fact that when the going gets tough the tough get going. No one is more ardent in this belief than myself.
Nonetheless, Henley's poem has been claimed by right-wing types -- let's not have any ambiguity about that.
I'm conveying a certain confusion with this post, I realize -- voicing a spiritual affinity with Henley's words while implying that the righties who've wrapped themselves in his poem are tainted and perverse and on top of this throwing in a lament about Reagan's ruination of our economy etc.
I'm primarily saying that Henley seems to have been made into a right-wing patron saint by the deifying of his classic poem, and that's fine as far as the core meaning of his words are concerned. But people should always be on the lookout for hidden right-wing agendas. The free-market righties are -- certainly have been in recent years -- a selfish and fiendishly belligerent bunch whose economic attitudes have let loose the wolves, given a massive green light to the worst ripoff artists in history and brought this country (indeed, the world) to its knees.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on June 3, 2009 at 3:29 AM
Essentials
comment #1
Rich S.
says ...
Oh, for the love of pete. I'm given to understand that conservatives often drink coffee and read newspapers. I've felt icky about doing both ever since I learned that.
You really need to stop crawling around inside your own head for awhile.
Posted by Rich S.
at June 3, 2009 6:24 AM
comment #2
Jeffrey Wells
says ...
Yeah, you're right -- we really need to act and think more openly and charitably about righties in general. They've been put upon too much. Maybe we can get one into the White House in '12 and roll back all this Obama crap and allow the banking pirates to rush in and make more piles of money.
Seriously -- right-wing affinity for Henley's poem is clear, I think, and somebody needed to point this out....that's all.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells
at June 3, 2009 6:34 AM
comment #3
Lost_Contacts
says ...
Jeff:
It is true that lots of righties like the poem. But it's not a political work, just a statement of me-against-the-world. That appeal crosses political lines. Your own afinity for the poem should prove that. It's a universal.
On another note, I seem to remember there being a made-for-TV movie in the late 80's called "Invictus." Does anyone else remember that?
Posted by Lost_Contacts
at June 3, 2009 6:44 AM
comment #4
Rich S.
says ...
Yeah, "hidden right wing agendas" is a really healthy way to start a dialog.
The greatest threat to this republic isn't anything the conservatives or liberals have done or are about to do. The greatest threat is this "us v. them" crap that the extremes of both sides have been peddling since at least the days of Lee Atwater. It sells newspapers, gets radio ratings and pushes up blog hits. But it is in no way constructive.
Hatred is one of the most effective political tools ever employed. Orwell recognized it in the concept of the "Two Minutes' Hate" in 1984. Create a bogeyman and blame all the ills of the world on him. Great tool for inciting the mob.
You're smarter than this, or at least you used to be. "There's a red (stater) under my bed," is the kind of thing you used to make fun of. I guess not so much any more.
Posted by Rich S.
at June 3, 2009 6:47 AM
comment #5
Jeffrey Wells
says ...
Wells to Rich S.: Will you come up for air, please? What or whom do you think caused the current ruination of our economy...boogie men from Mars with rayguns? Free-market theoreticians and laissez-faire rightie greed among bankers and home-mortgage lenders has led us into a combination prison pit and bamboo cage, and rightie indifference or hostility to anything that stood in the way of building their fortunes (like, say, pain-in-the-ass concerns about fossil fuels and the greenhouse effect) brought about the near-ruination of the planet. This isn't a damn theory. Society is waking up to what has happened to this country over the last 25 years or so. And yet you reduce it all to a simplistic homily about how we shouldn't hate. Which is code, of course, for "leave the right alone...we need time to lick our wounds and gather our forces so we can reclaim power in '12 or '16 or whenever...we shall rise again!"
Posted by Jeffrey Wells
at June 3, 2009 7:00 AM
comment #6
BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey
says ...
Kind of a rubbish title for the movie. Sounds like a car or a fragrance.
Posted by BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey
at June 3, 2009 7:06 AM
comment #7
BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey
says ...
... or a science fiction film. To be fair though, the other two proposed titles were similarly generic shit.
Posted by BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey
at June 3, 2009 7:07 AM
comment #8
Rich S.
says ...
Yep, that's what it's code for all right. That's why I invoked the name Lee Atwater. Clever and counter-intuitive, right?
The problems of this country - sorry, planet - are far more complex that that, and you know it. Or should know it. We are all complicit in them. Or I suppose that flight to Cannes was imperative for the survival of the nation - sorry, planet.
I usually avoid your political discussions because I hate getting engaged in these wars by sound bites. But trying to impose a right wing agenda on a poem that you yourself admitted was an inspiration to Nelson freaking Mandela was just too much. Believe me, I learned my lesson. Complex discussion of issues in which one refuses to reflexively take sides not welcome. Got it.
The movie discussions are far more enlightening, but I guess they don't feed the beast.
Posted by Rich S.
at June 3, 2009 7:13 AM
comment #9
BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey
says ...
INVICTUS... the new fragrance for men from Eastwood.
Posted by BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey
at June 3, 2009 7:27 AM
comment #10
bondjamesbond
says ...
I liked Henley when he wrote "Boys of Summer," and he was good with the Eagles, of course, although I could do without that SoCal angst.
But seriously, anyone who thinks he is the master of his fate should take a look around and ask himself "What the hell went wrong."
Posted by bondjamesbond
at June 3, 2009 7:31 AM
comment #11
DeafBrownTrashPunk
says ...
You go, Wells! This is why I love your blog.
Posted by DeafBrownTrashPunk
at June 3, 2009 7:52 AM
comment #12
moviemaniac2002
says ...
Actually, I'm more interested in whatever the
SECOND movie will be....you know, the one that
Clint will direct, edit and score in about 5 weeks so that it'll open two weeks after "Invictus".
Posted by moviemaniac2002
at June 3, 2009 8:06 AM
comment #13
Midwest Doug
says ...
It [i]is[/i] a conservative-themed poem, because it champions indvidualism and individual resolve. To that end, it's more libertarian than it is the current mode of American 'conservatism'.
Posted by Midwest Doug
at June 3, 2009 8:22 AM
comment #14
BurmaShave
says ...
So Wells, you've been in the tank for the right wing since your teenage years? I'm sorry, but the second half of this post is deranged. Witness the response from knee-jerk DeafBrown. What is the common thread between Nelson Mandela and John McCain? Oh right, they're both reactionaries!
Posted by BurmaShave
at June 3, 2009 8:51 AM
comment #15
Steven Kar
says ...
Lost Contacts;
It's also known by the title "Unconquered".
Posted by Steven Kar
at June 3, 2009 8:56 AM
comment #16
Steven Kar
says ...
Moviemaniac:
You're right, and it's called "Hereafter".
Posted by Steven Kar
at June 3, 2009 9:01 AM
comment #17
Lost_Contacts
says ...
Steven:
Thanks for that. I haven't seen it in forever. It might be a piece of crap, but I remember liking it when I was eight.
Posted by Lost_Contacts
at June 3, 2009 10:18 AM
comment #18
Manitoba
says ...
Full disclosure: I'm a hopeless liberal and Paul Krugman fan. But I admire Clint Eastwood and the way he keeps going at 79. It seems like only the other day when he was on The Ellen De Generes Show talking about going off to South Africa for "a couple of months" on "Invictus." I think he shot the film in under two months. I don't quite follow Eastwood's politics and he often seems to vere somewhere between a libertarian and an Eisenhower Republican. But it doesn't matter. He just keeps his head down and presses on. Eastwood has survived multiple shots from knockers all his life, including persistent volleys from the great Pauline Kael, even after her 1991 retirement.I have a book by Mamie Van Doren somewhere here. She was in Universal's new talent program in the 1950s with Eastwood. Most people then thought Eastwood should look for another profession. But he kept going, landed the Rawhide tv series and is now the closest thing we have to a Hawks or a Huston or a Ford. Actually I guess, he is a true original. None of the latter were also major box office stars.
Posted by Manitoba
at June 3, 2009 1:36 PM
comment #19
astrophore
says ...
I also note for the record that Alex Trebek favorably cited this poem on an episode of "Jeopardy!" a couple of nights ago.
I think this is bigger than any of us realize.
Posted by astrophore
at June 3, 2009 5:42 PM
comment #20
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comment #22
dd
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But seriously, anyone who thinks he is the master of his fate should take a look around and ask himself "What the hell went wrong."
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