South Africans say a new Hollywood film about sport, race and Nelson Mandela will tell the world about the country's history of struggle and triumph despite some criticism that the lead roles are played by American actors.

Clint Eastwood's "Invictus" depicts Mandela, South Africa's first black president, as a strategist for racial reconciliation, working to bring whites and blacks together after the end of apartheid by supporting the country's mostly white national rugby team.

Mandela, once reviled by many whites who saw him as a terrorist, strode onto the field after South Africa won the 1995 Rugby World Cup final wearing a national team shirt and earned rapturous cheers from a crowd dominated by whites.

Chester Williams, the only black member of South Africa's 1995 championship rugby team, hopes the nation will come together for next year's football World Cup as it did 15 years ago.

The movie is "a great opportunity for everyone, not only in South Africa but the rest of the world, to see what Nelson Mandela has done for the country," Williams, who helped coach the actors during the shooting of the movie in South Africa, told The Associated Press Wednesday.

Most South Africans won't see "Invictus" until its general release Thursday, but the movie already has made headlines and dominated talk show radio.

It has not been universally embraced, with some complaining that South Africans should be starring in their own stories. Mandela is portrayed by Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon plays the rugby team captain. But South Africans have key roles, including Patrick Mofokeng as Mandela's chief bodyguard.

Mofokeng endorsed Freeman, saying at Tuesday's premiere in Johannesburg: "He was made to play the role. I think he is Nelson Mandela."

Acclaimed South African actor John Kani, who is not in the movie, told the AP he understood international movies needed big stars like Freeman to draw investors and audiences. But Kani was worried South Africans would never get a chance to claim "bankable" status if producers and the government did not try to develop and showcase local talent.

Still, Kani said movies like "Invictus" had broader benefits, telling the world South Africa's inspiring story.

In many ways, though, South Africa remains racially divided. Blacks denied education and opportunity for generations under apartheid remain in impoverished townships on the outskirts of cities where the best neighborhoods remain largely white.