This isn't about sports glory or gold medals. It's not about glibly glorifying and deifying sports "heroes", a notion that's so puerile anyway. It's a gritty depiction of the complexities of family life, the hurt and the glory of familial relationships and love.
So easy to mistake this as a "typical" Aussie sporting legend. Except that sport is a mere background to the human trials and tribulations, simply a metaphor to underpin the way the characters manage to overcome their "loved ones" and themselves and break through to the other side of survival.
Absolutely brilliant work on every front. No scenes of glorious swimming pools and beaches bathed in the strong Aussie sun, but 3 am training starts in the dark, where a growing boy is fighting to breathe caught between the pressure his well meaning mother and coach are exerting on him and the memories he has of an abusive father.
The young boy is late for training one day and the coach makes him wait till everyone else has finished by which time he does his turn in the pool in pouring rain. A scene that epitomises the struggle and darkness that the protagonist and to an extent the rest of the characters must overcome to survive their situations.
Outstanding dark hued cinematography, outstanding editing restraint (not a frame that's superfluous and doesn't advance the story and characterisation), outstanding direction to get the most nuanced emotional responses from the actors, outstanding, utterly believable scripting.
A masterclass in quiet cinematic achievement that leaves the viewer with lasting impressions.
