Common Sense Media Review
By Melissa Camacho
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Moving docuseries celebrates healing, shows war.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
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Heart of Invictus
What's the Story?
HEART OF INVICTUS is a docuseries about wounded military service members competing in the 2022 Invictus Games. Cameras follow six athletes from the Invictus Community of Nations, including the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Denmark, Korea, and Ukraine, as they train for and compete in the multisport event, which was held in The Hague, Netherlands after years of postponement due to the COVID pandemic. Each of the athletes shares their story, often discussing the physical, emotional, and mental trauma they are recovering from. They also talk about how participation in the games helps with the healing process. The series features footage from the war in Ukraine, which broke out two months prior to the opening ceremony, some of which was recorded by one of the featured athletes who was captured by the Russians.
Is It Any Good?
The emotional and heartfelt docuseries demonstrates how the Invictus Games carries out its mission of supporting the rehabilitation of wounded and sick service people around the world through the eyes of some of its athletes. While Prince Harry, the founder and a current patron of the games, is featured, his journey is not treated as central or unique. Instead, the overall production allows veterans, retired personnel, and those actively serving their respective countries and military branches to share their personal stories of struggle, survival, and ongoing healing. Particularly compelling is the harrowing tale of the Ukrainian team, especially that of paramedic Yuliia "Taira" Paievska, who'd been training for the games before being captured by the Russians in March 2022.
The choice to follow Taira's story after the fact, and to include some of the body cam footage she recorded and had smuggled out of the country prior to her capture, adds a significant layer of drama. But it also serves to document, in almost real time, the horrors that soldiers and other military personnel around the world face every day, and from which they must eventually find ways to recover. Heart of Invictus isn't always the easiest watch, but it still succeeds at being uplifting by showing how Invictus athletes triumph by finding a sense of purpose that they had been seeking. Overall, it's a series that shows the global need to help those who serve(d) their countries recover from violence-induced trauma by calling attention to their ongoing need for healing in different, and often unique, ways.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the stereotypes associated with people seeking mental health care. Why are people who are, or who have, served their countries often afraid to ask for help? In what ways can media be used to help them?
What countries do the teams featured competing in Heart of Invictus come from? Which nations are currently not part of the Invictus Community of Nations? What is being done to include them in the future?
TV Details
- Premiere date : August 30, 2023
- Cast : Prince Harry , Yuliia ‘Taira’ Paievska
- Network : Netflix
- Genre : Reality TV
- Topics : Friendship
- Character Strengths : Compassion , Courage , Perseverance , Teamwork
- TV rating :
- Award : Common Sense Selection
- Last updated : September 18, 2025
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