Blood & Glory (2016)

Original title

Modder en Bloed

Directed by

Sean Else

Genre

history, war

Country

South Africa

Runtime

2h 13m

Rating

6.3 of 10 from 7 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This film is set in 1901 near the end of the Second Boer War. It follows a Boer farmer captured by the British and sent to a prisoner of war camp. He and other prisoners find strength and defiance through playing rugby.

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What happens

Blood and Glory (Afrikaans: Modder en Bloed) is a feature film released in April 2016 in South Africa, set in 1901, at the conclusion of the Second Boer War. The period drama follows Willem Morkel, a Cape rebel (a Boer or Afrikaner) farmer, who was captured and sent to a British prisoner of war camp on the Island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. Despite facing oppression and hardships, Morkel and his fellow captives gradually unite, asserting their defiance, humanity, and human spirit, particularly through the game of rugby. Blood and Glory is a fictional account, using the backdrop of the Boer War, with some of the places in the plot resembling actual locations from the war. The film's protagonist, Willem Morkel, is loosely based on Sommie Morkel, who went on to play for the South Africa national rugby union team. It is documented that 28,000 Boer women and children, as well as 20,000 black people, died in British concentration camps (Professor Fransjohan Pretorius, 2011 writing for BBC). The film also makes mention of the scorched earth policy implemented by the British commander-in-chief, General Herbert Kitchener, during the Boer War. Blood and Glory was co-produced by Dark Matter Studios and Collective Dream Films. It was written and directed by Sean Else (Spud 2, Platteland, 'n Man soos My Pa), and produced by Llewelynn Greeff (Leading Lady and The Unfamiliar) and Henk Pretorius (Leading Lady, Fanie Fourie's Lobola, Wolwedans in die Skemer, Hoofmeisie, Bakgat Trilogy and The Unfamiliar) (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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