London Mums Magazine was invited to review The Boys in the Boat at Picturehouse Central, Piccadilly Circus.
What a superb film! The Boys in the Boat is a sensitive and dramatic portrayal of a true story of grit and guts overcoming adversity and poverty in the USA depression of 20s and 30s.
The story
From director George Clooney, starring Joel Edgerton and Callum Turner. Based on the best-selling book about the inspirational true story of the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that competed for gold at the Summer Olympics in Berlin.
The story charts the progress of the USA rowing 8 as they emerge from obscurity. These young men and their coxswain were not part of the society of Old American Money they were struggling, poor, working class offspring at Washington State University.
The trailer
The verdict
The cinematography was excellent; costumes and kit all strikingly authentic and the music adding to the suspense beautifully. You don’t have to be a rowing enthusiast to get the message this film portrays. Any enthusiastic, active team member will be able to identify with the sentiments of the sacrifices and demands of commitment.
Arguably for those with more knowledge of rowing, more technical information during the commentaries and training sessions might have been appreciated, but I suspect it was true to the era.
Personally I expected a bit more detail in the coaching of starting techniques and the second ‘push’ techniques but the drama was all there in the action.
