It feels wrong to review an Afrikaans language film in English, but here we go.
Blood and Glory (Modder en Bloed) is part revenge drama, part patriotic film, part propaganda piece and part sports drama. The plot revolves around a young Afrikaner man who leaves his wife and newborn son behind to fight in the Second Boer War (aka Anglo-Boer War) against the British Empire.
He returns to find his home destroyed and family gone. After an ill- fated attempt to rescue his family from a concentration camp, he is himself arrested and shipped of the the remote island of St Helena.
Here he grows from being suicidal to being hopeful once more, all thanks to the newly discovered game of Rugby.
It's a typical feel-good movie with lots of popular underdog tropes: Guy fights for freedom, guy loses everything, guy endures the torment of cruel villain, guy finds new hope, guy wins, happy ending.
The acting was done with much gusto and it's clear that the cast poured all their energy into this film. Unfortunately there are moments of boredom when I looked down at my watch. There are also moments when I felt like cheering, and there are moments when I seriously doubted the historical accuracy of the events portrayed.
I give it a 6/10 because the movie is a lot of fun but the plot is just so standard. Also, the film should've had either a stronger focus on comedy or on tragedy. The equal mixture of the two felt odd.
Blood and Glory (Modder en Bloed) is part revenge drama, part patriotic film, part propaganda piece and part sports drama. The plot revolves around a young Afrikaner man who leaves his wife and newborn son behind to fight in the Second Boer War (aka Anglo-Boer War) against the British Empire.
He returns to find his home destroyed and family gone. After an ill- fated attempt to rescue his family from a concentration camp, he is himself arrested and shipped of the the remote island of St Helena.
Here he grows from being suicidal to being hopeful once more, all thanks to the newly discovered game of Rugby.
It's a typical feel-good movie with lots of popular underdog tropes: Guy fights for freedom, guy loses everything, guy endures the torment of cruel villain, guy finds new hope, guy wins, happy ending.
The acting was done with much gusto and it's clear that the cast poured all their energy into this film. Unfortunately there are moments of boredom when I looked down at my watch. There are also moments when I felt like cheering, and there are moments when I seriously doubted the historical accuracy of the events portrayed.
I give it a 6/10 because the movie is a lot of fun but the plot is just so standard. Also, the film should've had either a stronger focus on comedy or on tragedy. The equal mixture of the two felt odd.