# Apartheid-era South African flag in Invictus

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartheid-era-south-african-flag-in-invictus/544104>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 22, 2010, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartheid-era-south-african-flag-in-invictus/544104 "2010-06-22T10:00:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartheid-era-south-african-flag-in-invictus/544104/1 "2010-06-22T10:00:04Z")

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I was watching _Invictus_ a little while ago on DVD. During the final match, I noticed the old, Apartheid-era South African flag being waved. I actually backed up the disk and paused it just to be absolutely sure, but, really, there aren’t any other flags that one could be mistaken for at the resolution I saw it.

Now the weird part: This is in no way a spoiler, because _it was not a plot point._ There it was, big as all outdoors, waving right alongside the new post-Apartheid South African flags and the bonny blue New Zealand flags, and absolutely nobody mentioned it.

So, I suppose my question is twofold: Was this a mistake by Eastwood, and could that flag have been used in that context at that time?

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartheid-era-south-african-flag-in-invictus/544104/2 "2010-06-22T17:37:26Z")

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No mistake, and definitely yes, it was used, and mostly as deliberate provocation.

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartheid-era-south-african-flag-in-invictus/544104/3 "2010-06-22T17:42:16Z")

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Although it’s not used that way by [everyone](http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Waved-old-SA-flag-for-unity-20070122)…

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartheid-era-south-african-flag-in-invictus/544104/4 "2010-06-23T05:14:07Z")

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> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> No mistake, and definitely yes, it was used, and mostly as deliberate provocation.

Thanks for the reply, but now it seems very odd that it wasn’t a plot point during the match.

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartheid-era-south-african-flag-in-invictus/544104/5 "2010-06-25T10:19:29Z")

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> [@Derleth](#):
>
> Thanks for the reply, but now it seems very odd that it wasn’t a plot point during the match.

I think it was downplayed to provide a more inspirational, “rainbow nation” story. IIRC, it was mentioned in the source book, _Playing The Enemy_