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Children of Glory (2007)

Director: Krisztina Goda

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4 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

The water polo final at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics remains one of the most acrimonious encounters in sporting history, since the Hungarian team took on the Soviet Union as the Red Army was crushing the political uprising in Budapest.

Sounds like there’s a movie in there somewhere, but unfortunately it’s this stodgy offering, marking a return to his Magyar roots for ‘Basic Instinct’ scribe Joe Eszterhas. Indeed, there’s more than a touch of Hollywood, as stock characters (the self-interested water polo star swept up in revolutionary fervour, the sexy female partisan he falls for, the creepy, avuncular police interrogator) forge a familiar path through oppression and self-sacrifice.

The Budapest locations are authentic, but everything else feels generic, the cast adequate, and director Krisztina Goda struggles to wring much excitement from the big games. The inherent interest-factor in the material keeps us watching, but you can’t help feeling a half-decent doc would have done more justice to this true story of stirring heroism on the streets and in the Olympic pool.

Author: Trevor Johnston

Time Out London Issue 1960 March 12 – 18

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User reviews of this film

Flower said...

Posted on Jun 17 2009 12:25 I love this film :D

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Linda said...

Posted on Aug 08 2008 20:33 As a hungarian I found it really heart-touching( I cried a lot) and was good to see the real hun water polo players:) but the movie is far from the hollywood class.

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Jen said...

Posted on Mar 17 2008 12:52 Not an incredible epic, but not as bad as some reviews have made out. This isn't (as I had feared) a 2 hour film about a water polo team - the water polo plot only provides an 'introduction' to what is more a film about the Hungarian uprisings. It won't win any awards, but credit where credit's due for producing a film on an era of history which not many people know about.

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Tim said...

Posted on Mar 12 2008 10:20 Not a great film. But good on blood and guts.

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