It seems that Warner Brothers wants audiences to view Clint Eastwood’s latest directing effort, “Invictus” and think Academy Award. By releasing the film during the holidays, casting Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and transforming Matt Damon into a beefy rugby-playing machine, the studio is priming us to believe that this is a feelgood celluloid classic for the ages. The sprawling film, based on the book “Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation” by John Carlin, covers Mandela’s attempt to unite South Africa during his presidency by supporting the rugby union team Springboks in its quest to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup. The film’s seemingly unrelated title comes from a Victorian poem by William Ernest Henley, which we learn Mandela turned to in difficult times, and runs as a conceit throughout.

“Invictus” opens in South Africa, 1990, with a shot that illustrates the legacy of apartheid: on one side of a road, a group of well-fed and smartly uniformed white boys practice rugby under a coach’s watch on an immaculately kept green lawn. On the other side of the road, a group of malnourished black boys are kicking around a soccer ball on a dusty field. A motorcade carrying Nelson Mandela, before he becomes president, drives down the road, causing the black boys to chant his name in a joyous frenzy while the white coach calls Mandela a terrorist. Subtle, it’s not.

Soon after, Mandela is president, and he has the thankless task of trying to lead a country where, according to the tone the film sets, blacks and whites hate each other with a blind passion that can only be quelled by a blind passion for a sports team. Enter the Springboks, lead by Francois Pienaar (Damon), a team beloved by whites, but reviled by blacks. Mandela supports the team, to the initial dismay of the black majority, meeting with Pienaar to drink tea and talk about leadership. The film then follows Mandela’s domestic and international political career, the infighting between the black and white members of his security team, as well as the rise of the once-pitiful Springboks team.

Though every shot and performance is solid, the film fails to resonate on an emotional level. Mandela and Pienaar don’t have particularly strong character arcs—both men begin the film admirable and honorable, and are essentially unchanged by the end. Even the looming threat of a possible Mandela assassination doesn’t feel quite as dangerous as it should because he seems to be a hazy legend rather than a flesh and blood person.

Unfortunately, this means that rugby becomes the default central focus of the film. While the game sequences are masterfully done—even those ignorant of rugby can understand the importance of every toss and tackle—it doesn’t make up for the feeling that we lost the opportunity to become acquainted with a great man. In the end, “Invictus,” unlike Mandela, plays it too safely, and fails to be anything more than simply competent.

3/5 Stars by Doretta Lau.

(USA) Directed by Clint Eastwood. Starring Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon. Category I, 134 minutes. Opens January 14.