True life story of Australian swimming champion Tony Fingleton. Desperate to escape his tortuous older brother and alcoholic father he escapes with swimming in the local pool. He finds it in himself to overcome all odds and become a champion. The movie really moves slow, and its boring at times. Worth watching but not one of the best sports dramas around.
he story of a young man's struggle to gain his fathers love and approval.
As the most sensitive and brightest boy of a very large family, Tony tries to please his macho father who appears to be unimpressed by his academic prowess and only accepts sporting triumph as sucess.
Based-on-a-real-life film with stunning pool filming and good looking actors.
Swimmers will understand the pull that the pool has on Tony as he copes with his difficult life.
I really liekd the story. It also had some amazing acting, but the direction fell short. The swim sequences all look exactly alike and there's just some weird effects used that cheapen the reality of it all. If you can get past that and look at the story and the acting you'll really enjoy it.
Absolutely one of the best movies of the time. Based on the true story of Tony Fingleton, an olympic champion swimmer, this tells of the struggles he had to overcome to achieve his success. Jesse Spencer and Tim Draxl both excell in their respective roles, and Geoffrey Rush makes his presence felt as the drunken over bearing father, as does Judy Davis as the quiet but brave mother.
Excellent case study of alcoholism's effects on an entire family and the children's struggle to break free, overcome the dysfunctional family dynamic, and live their dreams. Excellent performances by Geoffrey Rush as the alcoholic father trying to live his dreams through his sons and Judy Davis and Jesse Spencer (now on Fox's "House"), as the abused mother and talented aspiring son. A few things keep this from earning a full 5 stars. The outcomes of the main character's 2 brothers and sister are not revealed as were those of the parents and the author. There was not sufficient character development for the other brothers and sister. Other than some homophobic comments from the father, it is not clear why the father prefers 1 over the other sons.
ive never heard of this movie but apprantly ive seen it because i kept the movie ticket hidden in my drawer, weird. so clearly it was so boring that i forgot all about it.
MCT:August 6, 2008
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MCT:October 8, 2006
