Blood and Glory (2016)

Set during the Anglo Boer War, prisoners of war take a stand against their captors

Director:

Sean Else

Writer:

Sean Else

Stars:

Charlotte Salt, Andre Jacobs, Deon Lotz

Cast

Credited cast:
Charlotte Salt	...	Katherine Sterndale
Andre Jacobs	...	Colonel Paget
Deon Lotz	...	Maartens
Bok van Blerk	...	Kommandant Scheepers
Josh Myers	...	Corporal Evans
Greg Kriek	...	Private Andrews
Richard Wright-Firth	...	Private Morgan
Nick Cornwall	...	Sgt.Skirving
Grant Swanby	...	Colonel Swannell
Clyde Berning	...	Private Dawkins
Edwin van der Walt	...	Marius Prinsloo
Jaco Muller	...	Giepie 'Rot' Nel
Albert Maritz	...	Isak Naude
Stian Bam	...	Willem Morkel
Benedikt Sebastian	...	Greyling

Storyline

Set in 1901, this period epic follows Willem Morkel - a Boer and family man whose wife and son are murdered during the Anglo-Boer War. Captured as a prisoner of war, Willem must survive incarceration in the notorious St. Helena concentration camp and defeat the ruthless Colonel Swannell, at his own game... Rugby.

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Genres:

Drama | History | Sport | War

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

South Africa

Language:

Afrikaans English

Release Date:

April 2016 (South Africa)

Also Known As:

Blood and Glory

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dark Matter Studios, Collective Dream Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Stian Bam, Jacques Bessenger, Altus Theart, Deon Lotz and Albert Maritz also appeared in a similar themed Boer War film called Verraaiers in 2013.

User Reviews

Feelgood movie with popular tropes

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.