VividSimon Simply Perfect

Console best movie i've ever seen.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Tazio Ratnayeke I do not wish to contradict or to differ with any pundits on the cinematography of this movie and most certainly I have no wish to disagree with the views of fellow brothers of the blade.... yet there is an aesthetic side to this movie.Rowing, especially highly competitive rowing steeped in tradition, is a concept that can be understood only by those who have actually tasted the bitter gourd of defeat in a race and savoured its hard won victories. That is the essential of this movie.Indeed the mistakes are fallacious, and sometimes appalling pathetic, especially for those who know their blade work. However despite the blatant technical errors so obvious to a trained eye, as a story that inspires, this fills a much needed void.As a coxswain, its slightly different to the ones portrayed in the movie. Contrary to popular belief, in some parts of the world where there are traditional races like the Ox-Bridge where old rivals train eleven months of the year for just a single course down, we're not just dead weights in the boat. We actually have to do all the fitness that guys a foot taller and twice our weight have to do, only on one meal a day for weight reasons. Basically everything, ergo, weights, runs etc... except the water training. I found that the camaraderie that I shared with my crews, a thing all coxes will agree with me, was sadly missing in this movie. The 'coxing' in the final race was rather timid to say the least. Although I do confess, in the absence of something better this was a good phyche-up movie to watch before the races.What I did like about the movie is what it showed. The politics and the desperation to win is universal in every crew. The characters, heroes, villains and bystander can be related to by any oarsman. The best and most profound scene in the whole film, is not on the water, but at the meeting of the boat halls and the priest's take on what rowing for an institution is. That summarises the ethos for many of us. "We are servants to put in, not masters to take out. We owe that to all those before us and those who will come after us." In a Boat Races, to be second is to be last. It is a nightmare from the fall of the flag to the final line. This film shows what an oarsman goes through. Not as brutal as the reality but it is a glimpse never the less. Lines that seem cool yet speak volumes for those who have 'been there' are: "We need good men....not just good oarsmen..." "No one put a reserve sign on your seat...." "You can hear the boat sing...." "....make them feel like they came third...." "It's what we do to win the boat race...." What it shows, what no other film can show is the harmony of a team, and the determination and self sacrifice to win.For an oarsman who has faced the pain and the exhilaration of victory, this film will break a smile, not a cheer. Yet for the world that has not faced it, its a peek at an oarsman's world.Remis Insurgite!!!Tazio Ratnayeke

CenterD50 Not only is it a poorly told story, with terrible directing and acting as others have pointed out, but the rowing in this movie is actually quite bad. There are a few helicopter/crane shots of actual Cambridge and Oxford crews rowing, but it's obvious that these were taken outside the context of the movie. While the actors seem to have had some coaching and practice before shooting started, it couldn't be more than a few weeks. Their technique is horrendous, even in the Boat Race sequence. For people that speak the language, expect missed catches, washing out, bodies flying everywhere, coxswains yelling "stroke! stroke!" . . . you name it, they mess it up, and all the while the boats are perfectly on keel. Anyone who would be in The Boat Race would look much better than these fools. This movie has been a running joke in boathouses and on rowing message boards for years. If you know anything about what a rowing stroke should look like, how a coxswain calls a race, the etiquette of conversation during a seat race, or the difference between 20 and 35 strokes a minute, you will not be able to keep from laughing at this movie.

Munki Impius I just caught this on DVD (2005) , and wish I'd seen it on release. I know little of the inner workings of the Blue Universities , or rowing , but of course being an Englishman always watch the boat race , and have since childhood. It was quite revealing how involved Americans are at Oxford , and the on board filming , and location shots were excellent. The first scenes showed a threat to takeover by the yanks , but slowly throughout the film the real metal of men was tested until the best comment in the movie summed it all up "It isn't great oarsman that win the boat race but great men" or words to that effect , which left the yank speechless. The whole film slowly revealed what type of man makes a good eights rower , and what is lacking in American character . A brilliant education in what it means to be British , and why we will always be superior to Americans. The one thing missing was some basic background in rowing rules , like the seat tests ? and stations ? etc.

formica-2 Quite definitely the best film ever made about rowing (admittedly out of a poor field of competitors), 'True Blue' vividly conveys the striving for physical perfection and the stress of selection and training for the hardest rowing race in the word. The sheer bloody-mindedness, obstinacy and ambition needed to do well in such a sport spill over into the vicious personal relationships of this story, where the harsh sacrifices made mean that little quarter is given to those with whom you disagree and rival strongly opinionated tribes grow up, all with some right on their side. The bleak mood of the film is set straightaway with the picture of a lonely sculler training on a remote, snow-swept wind-blown loch. The film is visually poetic, using the real and truly beautiful venues used for the training in a matchless mix of colours and varying weather. Fairfax uses a good script, which nonetheless could have done with one more re-write to clarify the large cast of characters involved. The spectator comes away wondering also if some of the film's faults may not be due to back-pedaling over the real details of story to avoid legal action, which led to the changes of name of all but the two main characters. The soaring triumph of the spirit shown the final race in savage racing conditions is well worth waiting for, ably urged on by the sound track music. Some good cameo parts add to the overall pleasure of this film.