Ali Bacher's take on Hansie Movie [and he's in it]

Dr Ali Bacher attended the Johannesburg premiere of HANSIE, sponsored by MTN, on 16 September 2008 at Monte Casino and shared some of his impressions.

“I was staggered and surprised at the accuracy with which the whole film was portrayed. The film depicts match fixing and the King Commission just as it happened. The film is factually correct and I credit Frans and his team. I felt the film was very powerful.”

“Hansie even at the time of the King Commission received a lot of support in South Africa. Detractors existed and I would hope that as Madiba forgave his oppressors so the detractors of today can forgive Hansie.”

“The message of the film is that in this decade many top sportsmen and women get into the papers for the wrong reasons. What is lacking in South African sport is that sportsmen and women need to be mentored and advised as to the correct practices, attitudes and procedures that they should adopt and with whom they should or should not associate themselves.”

NVDL: Nice words Ali, but where were they 8 years ago?
Click on the link below to read my review of 'Hansie'.

clipped from english.ohmynews.com The movie opens with crisp white text on an oil black canvas. Not long ago, when South Africa had just become a democracy, the country was looking for new heroes. And indeed, Hansie, a boy from Grey College, answered that call. At a time when South Africa was about to be extended an open invitation, in all spheres, back onto the international arena, big dreamers like Hansie were as rare as hen's teeth. But Hansie did dream big. As a schoolboy, at 5 in the morning, Hansie, together with his schoolboy teammates, would run from the school to Naval Hill and back. They did this every day, for the full year, in a concerted effort to be the fittest and best school team. This sort of hardy iron-willed gutsy ambition stood the Vrystaat boerseun in good stead ever since.