Invictus opened in third place this weekend (behind The Princess and the Frog and The Blind Side), but as one of the few feel-good adult dramas of the holiday season (and a likely Oscar contender on several fronts) there's a good chance it will have legs. Since it purports to tell the true story of how Nelson Mandela used the unlikely vehicle of rugby to unite his divided nation, it doesn't hurt to know what really happened.

Did Mandela really become as obsessed with rugby as he does in the film? Did he start poring over materials a year-out to determine who South Africa's team would play in the quarter-finals? Did he interrupt top-level meetings to learn game scores? Did he form a close personal bond with the team captain that pushed the young athlete (and therefore the team) to perform better during the long lead up to the 1995 World Cup?

Paul Ackford, a writer with Britain's Telegraph newspaper, says "poppycock."

You may read his brief account of how it actually occurred HERE.

And if after seeing the film you're moved to learn the full story behind it, here is a link to the factual book on which the movie is based.