Mel Brooks reflects on 'Invictus'

Mel Brooks recently saw "Invictus," the Morgan Freeman- and Matt Damon-headlined film about South African statesman Nelson Mandela's work to bridge racial divides in his country by embracing the national rugby team. Brooks, a venerated filmmaker, producer, lyricist and legend, said that he does not think that the movie will do well for two reasons. First, the central game of the film – rugby – is foreign to him and to most Americans. "I like the actors very much but I didn't understand what the game was about," he said. "Why do they all scrum together, push their noses together? There's no real exciting interest in the game." Brooks also thought that the film had the wrong focus. "I would've done the story of how [Mandela] got out of jail and who got him out of jail," Brooks said. "I would've focused on his last year in jail: Will they kill him? Can he survive and actually be free? [Mandela] is an iconic figure. He actually did suffer for 27 years or something insane in prison. That's miraculous. That's what the movie should've been about – the last year of his life getting out of prison with flashbacks to his arrest and various emotional peaks. At the end of it, we have a great victory. But that he's out of jail seems like a sidebar in this film." Brooks' films include "The Producers" and "Young Frankenstein," both of which were made into Broadway shows. In fact, "Young Frankenstein" opens Feb. 9 at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis.