The Brighton Miracle

Very similar to What we got from Gavin O'Connors Warrior. Lasarus Ratuere is Someone we all want to see More of! An Absolute Natural Who Has an Uncanny Ability to Shapeshift seamlessly from one Production to another. Impressive!

I'm a rugby fan and Eddie is one of the more interesting individuals in sport so I enjoyed it somewhat anyway. But I didn't think it was really that well scripted and I thought it was odd that there was no mention of Eddie's wife and daughter. He was 55 when that all took place and yet they concentrated entirely on his parents and their influence. Overall it was a bit clunky and obvious. Kind of TV movie stuff.

It's starts a little clunky and feels a little under cooked budget wise but the story grows on you and you can't help but feel happy for the team as they transform from the easy beats to become world beaters.

I'm no rugby fan but I never once felt like I wasn't interested in the outcome.

The message is the thing here and while it feels a little preachy and lacking a touch of comic relief, I found it a moving and believable portrayal of sporting life and achievement in general.

The way the film cuts between the real people interviews and the recreation scenes works better than I would have imagined they could.

As a kiwi I knew who Eddie Jones is and to be fair wasn't a big fan from seeing him in the news over the years. This doco changed my mind what a great leader and coach. You don't have to be into rugby to enjoy this ride/movie. I found it interesting and inspirational. Temuera Morrison did a good job on playing Eddie Jones.

I'm a big fan of that great romantic hero, the underdog who overcomes the odds and the obstacles to achieve the goal, to emerge victorious.

In that sense, The Brighton Miracle certainly does not disappoint. Still, that's not enough to warrant a 10/10 rating.

What I found to be unique, artistic, edgy and utterly creative was the way they blended the real world people with their dramatized versions, especially the most challenging: Eddie Jones and Michael Leitch. The movie moved seamlessly between the brilliant acting of Temuera Morrison and Lasarus Ratuere, and the commentary of their real life counterparts, slaughtering yet another sacred cow of cinema (the other sacred cow that was recently slaughtered was that of mixing real actors with animated characters). That wasn't just true for those two; the entire supporting cast made me a believer in the exact same way.

Conceptually, I "knew" when I was watching an actor act and speak lines vis à vis when the "real" person was sharing their commentary. At the same time, however, on a much deeper level, I was always aware, I always recognized that the persona I was watching in either case was one and the same. They merged to form something greater than logic: Myth.

That, in my opinion, is the measure of a true work of art. 10/10