Hansie (2008)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Regardt van den Bergh

Writer:

Frans Cronje (writer)

Release Date:

26 September 2008 (South Africa)

Genre:

Family | Sport

Tagline:

The legacy of a hero, the story of a man

Plot:

"How do you start over once you have betrayed a nation's trust?" The news of Hansie Cronjé's involvement...

Plot Keywords:

Hansie | Real Life | South Africa | Cricket | Redemption

Cast

Brandon Auret	...	Frans Cronje
Jonathan Hearns	...	Steve Waugh
Frank Rautenbach	...	Hansie Cronje
Matthew Dylan Roberts	...	Joe Dawson
Sarah Thompson	...	Bertha Cronje
Patrick Walton Jr.	...	Older Player

Country:

South Africa

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Cape Town, South Africa

Company:

Global Creative Studios

A factual, but boring look at the life of one of the most controversial men in South African History

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I went into this movie expecting the worst, but hoping for the best. Which is probably the best way to approach it.

I'm not going to repeat the plot, as I'm pretty sure anybody reading this will know the basic outline of the movie. (Well at least anybody that comes from South Africa, or other cricket loving nations).

What I do want to mention in this review is the actual quality of the film, in regards to things such as cinematography, script, acting etc.

This film seemed to have a higher production budget than many other South African films. The film itself looked clearer and less grainy than many other films produced here. There were some absolutely gorgeous shots of the Cape area, especially of Blouberg Strand and in and around Fancourt (George).

The shots of India also seemed authentic, although, since I've never been there I can't be absolutely certain, but they were gorgeous!

Now for the negative aspects.

I thought, in general, that the script sucked. It was extremely on the nose, as though it was written for those who do not want to think and figure things out for themselves.

I also thought they could have spent more time on Hansie's dealings with the Indian bookies, and his reasons for dealing with them, as in the end the only real reason we received was that he loved money... And that was only mentioned towards the end of the movie. We didn't get a glimpse into his thought processes whilst he did all these things. The only time I thought I actually knew why he did it was the very first time, when Donald told him to try to up the amount just for fun - After that I had no idea of Hansie's reasonings for doing the things he did.

Another aspect of the film that really grated, was that, for the most part, the acting was sub-par to dismal. Francois Rautenbach did okay as Hansie, nothing Oscar worthy, but he was amongst the best the film had to offer. Unfortunately the same can't be said for Sarah Thompson - A big part of that had to do with her accent, as at times it seemed like she didn't even try to conceal her American accent.

So in summary, this was a pretty average movie, with some positive aspects, but could have been so much better had they spent a bit more time on the script and with a couple of cast changes.