Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Chantel Contreras It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

GwydionMW Set in 1999, post-APartheid South African, this film begins with an elderly white brickworks manager who has a strong interest in long-distance running.He has been training some of his employees for a ultra-long-distance race, the Comrades Marathon. Deprived of this, he finds himself at a loose end.He then notices Christine, a young Blakc African woman who regularly runs long distances and has never had any training. She is an illegal immigrant, who faced hostility from some of the local Black Africans. When she is arrested, he gets her released and invites her to live with him. He has no sexual interest in her - she later describes it as being viewed like a racehorse.Christing several times asserts herself. The film culminates in her taking part in the actual race.I found that there was rather too much about the dull relationship between coach and runner. A better film would have shown flashbacks to the past of the race, not always open to blacks or women, and to the coach's own past as a runner. Still, it gave an authentic-seeming view of South Africa and the running culture.

Wizard-8 This independent production was picked up by Universal Pictures, but it doesn't seem that they gave it much of a theatrical release apart from a brief showing in Seattle. Seeing the movie, it soon becomes clear why Universal didn't have confidence in it. It's not a terrible movie, having some positive attributes. The South African locations, which are well photographed, give this a non-Hollywood look that's quite refreshing. The acting by everyone is pretty good as well. However, the actors aren't able to do anything with a script that doesn't give much depth to the characters. The main characters of Berry and Christine never have one real conversation of significant depth. Quite often they do things without explanation. There are a few scenes where it seems something personal might come out, but then there's an abrupt edit to the next scene, suggesting that a lot was cut out in the editing room. (Despite this, the movie at 113 minutes still feels too long.) And the climatic race is directed in a surprisingly bland fashion, not letting us feel the sweat and pain the runners are going through. Still, as I said earlier, this is not a terrible movie... but you'll still feel underwhelmed by it long before the end credits start rolling.

hlorbach The previous commentator who rated this film "1" based on seeing the last 10 minutes is laughable and irresponsible. This is a sensitive and will-developed film about a lonely old failed-runner turned coach who lives for running and finds a promising young woman refugee whom he wants to train for this grueling race. She is an illegal refugee from Namibia who runs to forget her troubles -- not into racing -- and he rescues her from deportation and takes over her life in order to train her. Eventually she rebels and leaves because she is young and wants a life of her own, but returns to running and works with him and his bunch of male runners as her group support. The cinematography is excellent and the music -- using local native bands and songs of prominence -- first rate. If the film were such a travesty on racing, why would the sponsoring organization of this grueling race cooperate with and allow the movie to be shot as an exemplar of the race. How many American runners have run 90k? With a good part of the race toward the end a steep uphill? This is a fine movie, a heart-warming story, unlike the vast majority of sock-em, kill-em, torture-em or gen-x mixed-up kids seeking their identity.

mclayton-3 This movie was okay. As a former athlete of a good standard, and a great fan of the Comrades marathon, I was just able to stay interested for most of the film. Non running fanatics may struggle to find much in this film. As a South African, I recognised the usual suspects, it seems the same group of actors appear in all South African films, maybe we have only 10 actors in the whole country. On the whole the acting was fairly thin, the main role of coach was played fairly well though. Apart from that not much to write home about. The female lead and athlete could not run that well, although she shows a good body in a swimming scene. True athletes will find some of the facts hard to believe, but non runners probably won't notice. Also, as a South African film the usual black/white dynamic are explored, as well as some of the intolerance of the white people and the hardships of the black people. While these cannot be denied it would be nice to see a South African film one day that can focus on something else? Anyway, these aspects are not explored at too much length, so the running fans who come to expect a running film from the film cover, plot and description have something to watch. Those interested in the featured Comrades Marathon itself, will appreciate some of the shots of race day. This is an actual 90km marathon that takes place in Durban and Pitermaritzburg every year (alternating), and is without doubt the greatest ultra marathon in the world, attracting yearly fields of 15000. It is also well supported with crowds lining most of the 90km, it is basically a National Event. If you find the movie does not do the race justice, and you are interested in doing an ultra marathon, rest assured that this is the best there is, with support from runners world wide. I feel the movie let's the race down slightly, the acting is simply one dimensional and very few scenes get your emotions involved. 4 stars for non runners, 5 stars for running fans.