Sylvianism

We are deprived of some good movies in Theatres as we are in a country who are happy seeing big budget hollywood flicks and low budget chinese movies… I am kind of movie watcher who wants to see good intelligent movies, it was so bad that i had to watch Motorcycle Diaries in a blind date (Sathyam) and it was never screened again in the theatre…

For those people who dunno what is Motorcycle diaries all about, its the autobiography of Che Guevara. And for those who don’t know Che, I am sorry…

I am here not to speak about Bicycle Diaries, but another movie which most of us would not have seen in mainstream theatre releases, thanks to Star Movies i watched it the second time early morning till 3. We have been introduced to lot of underdog sports movies and its either restricted to baseball, basketball or football movie when it comes to Hollywood. Sorry in India,there were only few movies about sports and only two ( Lagaan and Chak De) became successful as others were badly taken.

The particular movie i am speaking about is titled “The Greatest game ever played” starring Shia Lebouf and directed by Bill Paxton… Unknown names??? Huh.. Hero of Transformers and the director starred in many movies including Twister and the treasure hunter in Titanic.This movie is about Francis Ouimet, a amateur who won the US open Championship against two biggest British Players Ted Ray and Harry Vardon in 1913.

Its a true story and the story remains as simple as all sports movies. A small time amateur who works as a caddie in a local club and passionate about Golf, gets a little help from some of the Golf Club members and wins US open Championship against the best player in the world. Its not a fiction but a true story about the most admired player of the Game till now.

Whats great about the movie is the wonderful acting of the lead characters Francis Ouimet, played by Shia Lebouf and Eddie Lowery, his caddie played by Josh Flitter and the way it has been taken. Even Harry Vardon, whose book Francis reads before playing the game and the player whom Francis admires is played excellently by Stephen Dillane . Harry Vardon is credited for the famous Harry Vardon grip in Golf.

 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IWd_D3cquM]

The movie also slightly slams the bourgeois attitude of then so called higher up society people and the how they can’t cope up with a small timer becoming great in their own game. And how great players are so great because of their humility and sheer presence. The other thing how he tries to win against the odds of his father and how his innocent mother trying to  cope up with both her husband and son. She is so ignorant that she asks the guy who scores whether her son is winning or not as she doesn’t know how the scores are made.

Above all the a string of humour which runs between Eddie and Francis is awesome and eddie giving advice during appropriate times is enjoyable…

“The Greatest game ever Played” has got 7.3/10 user rating in IMDB and 63% fresh in Rottentomatoes which is excellent for a sports movie…

Do you need to know Golf to enjoy this movie? A big ‘NO’…infact you will start learning about it. Its not as uninteresting as we people think, its better than a 20-20 cricket match. And its lot better than watching Harry Potters, Lord of the Rings’ and Narnias…

If you want to know more about the movie

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greatest_Game_Ever_Played

About Francis Ouimet

About Harry Vardon

P.S: Can any one tell me why The Lord of the Rings ( The Return of the Ring) won 11 oscars, is it equal to Ben Hur and Titanic, even better than Gone with the wind, I am confused…seriously, Don’t laugh please.