Hype, Hubris, Hansie - and the Lord Our God

When I started working on research and digging up the history on Hansie, this was the title that sprung to mind. It was based on what you got googling 'Hansie' a few weeks ago (that has changed quite a lot recently). The title's allusion to 'Hype' really reflects the way - in Hansie's heyday - he was such an iconic South African. Loved by us and loved - it seemed - by the world.

Hansie lived in that warm Mandela time when we also won the Rugby World Cup - where South Africa seemed a blessed country, healing, stepping forward heroically, reclaiming all the lost time, lost lives. Hansie epitomised that exuberance, that passionate embrace. The prodigal country had returned, and Hansie was one of front runners in our reclaiming our place on the world's stage.

During the inquisition into Hansie, there was also a lot of 'Hype', and if Hansie's fame was a high pressure system, the inquisition was a series of cold fronts, low pressures that swept by again and again, seeking to bring equilibrium to equation. I don't know if you remember, but the headlines then were quite nasty. Newspapers sometimes attempt to assuage, mimic and even lead their reader's sentiments. I mean they go beyond reporting to inciting emotions. Recently we've seen Sunday Times headlines yelling at Mugabe to 'pack his bags', or calling the Minister of Health a Liar. This isn't always credible reporting as much as it is a sort of sensational barometer of an estimated average sentiment. With Hansie it was 'The Devil Made Me Do it' and other 'traitor' based allegations.

The Hubris though was in part Hansie's and ours (and the media's) in collaboration. Hubris is a good way to summarise Hansie's attitude to cricket, and to living. Hubris is not necessarily a bad thing. Love is filled with hubris. So is hate. Wiki defines Hubris as follows:
...a term used in modern English to indicate overweening pride, self-confidence, superciliousness, or arrogance, often resulting in fatal retribution. In ancient Greece, hubris referred to actions which, intentionally or not, shamed and humiliated the victim, and frequently the perpetrator as well. It was most evident in the public and private actions of the powerful and rich. The word was also used to describe actions of those who challenged the gods or their laws, especially in Greek tragedy, resulting in the protagonist's downfall.

Hubris, though not specifically defined, was a legal term and was considered a crime in classical Athens. It was also considered the greatest sin of the ancient Greek world.

I went to Grey College, and so I saw Hansie through many years develop the incredible confidence of a school that hero-worshipped him, and only in the Vrysaat agterplaas can a newspaper like Die Volksblad fawn so exclusively over their hero as this newspaper did. Right now Die Volksblad's golden idol is Bloem's own Ryk Neethling (soon to do a book launch just outside the city).

And then there was also Hansie, the person - beyond the Hype, beyond the Hubris - the guy who went hunting with his boet and with an animal in his sights, suddenly felt the terrible loss of his own life and youth...at the point of pulling the trigger and taking this animal's life, he felt his own life slipping away... and as my research continued, I started to read his biography - by Garth King. It's a good book in the sense that it is comprehensive. What I appreciated immensely from reading the biography was it took me back to my alma mater, and made me see a dimension to Hansie, and even my school, that I saw once again...and then beyond that...all the going's on that I didn't see.
I remember seeing the guys running around Loch Logan, but I had no idea they had been running to Naval Hill as schoolboys 365 days a year. I had a pretty unpleasant high school experience at Grey College, and I expected King's book to somehow reinforce the not-so-great memories I had of High School. Some people hate Grey College, and in a bizarre way, I expected - specifically in the sense of following the Hansie story at Grey - that I might find myself agreeing with them. I didn't. At Grey if you were a good cricketer or rugby player you were a god. The teachers loved you, so did everyone else. I excelled at swimming, athletics to some extent, and hockey. I was still a nobody, an Engelse bliksem, a rooinek, and a Dutchman. My point is I am not part of the Cult of Hansie, or the Cult of Grey College. In the movie the footage of the school comes through as very authentic, a point Frans also made to me. I have to say, I truly believe the highest virtue there is is probably loyalty - and Grey is all about that. Yes, there is misplaced loyalty, but we live in a time where loyalty is seldom seen.

I experienced a major paradigm shift - quite unexpected - reading the biography. I realised, for example, how hard Hansie worked from the get go. And that he really did deserve the accolades he received. He achieved a great many things, and he worked bloody hard for it.

And then after reading the book I phoned up Frans Cronje and spoke about the movie and the book. Frans asked what I'd thought about the book and I told him I had been unexpectedly moved by the book, and this freed Frans to speak sincerely about his feelings. He even shared with me that he still has dreams of Hansie, and always 'wakes up sad'. It was at this point that I realised an article titled Hype, Hubris, Hansie - and the Lord Our God was not only inappropriate, it wasn't true, and it was misleading. It also seemed to swing wildly away from the emergent bottom lines of this story. One bottom line was this:

Hansie got screwed by the bookies because they felt he had betrayed their trust. They had insidiously attempted to win him over, and he had played them, and when they lost a phenomenal amount (expecting Gibbs to lose a wicket at 20 runs etc), they decided to get Hansie back. The irony is that while Hansie isn't innocent, and while he was greedy, he was punished to a large extent for failing to deliver to the bookies. Not many South Africans seem to see this subtle but important point.

Yes, it is true that Hansie should never have entertained the bookies in the first place. Yes he should have brooked no favours from them. So too should you not ride over 60km in a 60km/h zone, and so too should I pay my TV license fee. Nobody is perfect. We all makes mistake, and yes, Hansie made a big one. I think his mentor Mr. Volsteedt (principal at Grey College) provides the best example. Vollies had the most to lose by openly supporting Hansie. He may have felt that supporting Hansie in the full glare of the public spotlight would attract shame on the school. Vollies went with his gut and elected to say Grey supported Hansie but not what he did. You might think that a facile attitude, but I wonder how you would treat a brother, a son, or a father that made a public blapse. Would you join the madding crowds, add your voice to the clamour? Or would you be like a loving, loyal (Heavenly) father?

For me, what irks me the most about the Hansie story is 'the Lord our God'. Even in the book, I didn't like the amount of page space devoted to what I consider Christian schmaltz. In the movie, Hansie's baptism and rebirth irked me as I don't subscribe to that (although I used to once). I also remember back in 2000 I felt an awkward feeling of anger when Hansie was on trial that he still wasn't being entirely honest. In this context, the idea of God and truth becomes a bit flawed and suspect, lame and ridiculous for me. However, having read the biography, I realised it wasn't as simple or as black and white as that. Initially Hansie did lie, and tried to keep what he had done a secret. Then he faxed a confession to 6 different people. And then his lawyer told him to admit as little as possible. In the end, it was Hansie's own confession that provided virtually all the ammo the media and the prosecution would need. No cellphone transcripts ever saw the light of day.

When Hansie was at the Centre for the Book I wasn't far away. I was studying up the road at an advertising school in Cape Town. But it did occur to me that at Grey, it is not difficult to develop the hubris that comes from the combination of collectively believing in God, the confidence that comes from being a dominant sporting force in the region, and the way the boys idolised their heroes. Hubris is at its most dangerous when mixed in with religion, and that's what happened to Hansie:

In the film 300 the narrator says “The God King (Xerxes) has betrayed a fatal flaw: hubris. Easy to taunt, easy to trick ...

Having watched the movie, I can honestly say it is not a perfect portrait of Hansie. There are some mistakes. But I think the movie can be forgiven for its faults - it is good enough. I was moved. Many reviewers were crying in the film, and I understood what Frans meant when he said the film really comes into its own from the King Commission onwards. For me it is a really sad story; especially where we see Hansie all alone, in the dark, in a plane buffeted by a ferocious storm. And in that dark and terrifying place his life came to an end.
How sad.
I think what the Hansie parable teaches us is how radically our lives can change, and how cruel life can become (even if we are at fault and 'deserve' to account for our sins). I think if you closely follow the story of Hansie's life, you cannot come away other than to feel tremendous compassion for him. He worked really really hard, and achieved so much, but the story doesn't end happily ever after. What disturbs me are the clever-as-I-am articles like this one, comparing Hansie to Elvis, where the writer basks in his own wordplay glory but really has no real sensitivity (and I believe a very limited understanding) to the real life person he is writing about. I find it really sad to see this.

If the point of having heroes like good Hansie is so that we can learn from his example, surely the point of having villains like bad Hansie is also so that we can learn from his example? Because, after all, both are undeniably the same Hansie. And in fact, if you're a fan of Shakespeare, or the Bible, or the Harry Potter movies, you'll probably agree with me that all the best heroes are the complicated ones.

It's like being a fan of the cool Elvis from the 60s, but getting upset when people talk about the drug-raddled Elvis from the 70s (or "The Fat Bastard Years", as my friend Stuart refers to them). Both Elvises are important to fans of music, and you can approve of the early Elvis at the same time as thinking the stuff he made in the 70s is rubbish. [Continues below]

clipped from www.news24.com Both have fanatical followers who believe that they are guardians of the true flame, and that only they have the right to talk about, and judge, Elvis or Hansie. And both have become much more than the people they were - they're now part of the language of culture, and as such belong to everyone. One of the readers commented on the "Hansie deserves closure" column, and wrote this: "DW says: I read the Hansie Cronje story and I think he got a raw deal. He was wrong and was rightfully punished but he was definitely used as a scapegoat to try to teach everyone else a lesson, a lesson clearly not yet learnt as there is still match fixing in various sports." It's an intelligent comment, although the conclusion is flawed. Hansie is being used as an example, rather than a scapegoat ("scapegoat" implies that nobody else is being accused of the same thing). [In fact, Hansie was the only one accused - nothing happened to Gibbs or Boje or Donald or any of the others implicated. Hansie took the fall for everyone. He was a scapegoat AND and example.]

Funny thing that...

18/06/2008 12:37
Hansie was dragged off to court and went through all kinds of legal BS, lost his job and was banned from cricket for life. At the end of the day he was just a captain of a cricket team. Mr Zuma on the other hand was Vice Prez the country and took part in some seriously dodgy deals with some dodgy people went to court for rape etc etc and he gets made president of the ANC and possibly the country. Make's you wonder? If you're an ANC politician the law does not apply to you? - Mikey

The Sunday Independent has a movie review titled Film, like its hero, has feet of clay. Mary Corrigall spends 95% of her article ripping the movie to shreds, calling the movie a schmaltzy, made for TV disappointment. She says it is an embarrassment to the film making community of South Africa.

I don't know if that is a very nice thing to say. Mary - really? Corrigall also criticises the director for the movie's singular 'pot shot' at the media. She argues that the director ought to have used this 'valuable screen time' otherwise. Actually, there is one very short scene - perhaps 10 seconds long - where one previously obsequious reporter changes his tune on Hansie. The media did far worse - so I think Corrigall is hypercritical and overly strict in her assessment. She describes Hansie in the film as 'nauseatingly squeaky-clean'.

I don't know if we watched the same movie. The movie I saw, Hansie accepts bribes over the phone. A large part of the movie focuses on his dealing with bookmakers. What's squeaky clean about that?
In parallel to Corrigall's almost entirely negative review, I have one good thing to say about her attitude, and also Chris Roper and all the other people who think Hansie is one of South Africa's biggest jerks: at least it says something about the standards we feel our heroes ought to reach. We don't like them to make mistakes, disappoint us, they must be honest. Is that about right? I would love to see those standards, those judgements, focused on our political leaders, the career criminals, the serial killers. It's great to have these high standards of honesty, but please apply them to the real world, to our crime-infested country, to the daily corruption we read about in the newspaper, and also, at a last resort to oneself. Right? If you find yourself hesitating after this paragraph you might feel the need to secure your bullshit.

I guess, in the end, Hansie's legacy - when viewed up close - leaves you either hating him more, or loving him more, and that is a choice I think. And that choice says a lot about the person you are.

Read my Movie Review of the Hansie movie here.
Read my article published in the Sunday Independent here.

Hansie Deserves Our Support [+Behind the Scenes VIDEO ]

The sun is setting on the last day of the month when I call Frans Cronje. He says it has been another long, tough day, but the R42 million movie about his younger brother Hansie is finally finished. “We’ve just finished the final edit.”

I say, “It feels fortuitous,” – catching him at the finish line of this project; while the Proteas are on TV batting at the fateful Edgbaston ground, a venue where one run in 1999 may have changed the fates of both Hansie and Bob Woolmer. That, and only a day ago I finished Garth King’s book.

Unexpectedly Frans asks me to share my impressions of the book. I say the sheer dimensions of his journey as elaborated in the book – even while Hansie was at Grey – surprise me. I’m also in a faintly familiar place. Frans and his brother were both head boys at Grey [Frans was a vice head boy], and to speak directly to Frans about people and places so close to home brings back an oddly pleasant déjà vu.

Frans tells me that the 2 hour long movie is not based on the book but on a screenplay he wrote. He also says: “Hansie is an intimate story. The movie will touch people more than the book. Grey College comes through brilliantly. The school song is used as a soundtrack in various parts of the story, thanks to brilliant touches by the Welshman Julian Wiggins. We also went to Abbey Road and recorded music with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.”

I scribble furiously, while Frans talks enthusiastically about a project – shot on location in England, India and South Africa – that is one of the most expensive South African productions ever. At one point I stop him, and ask, “Why make the movie?” After all, how long has it been since Hansie died? And isn’t this like krapping open old scabs?
“When I wrote the screenplay I asked myself, ‘What do I feel is the right story to tell?’ The answer is: ‘An honest story.’ And when we showed the folks at Nu Metro that’s just how they saw it. Because, you know, they were worried because he’s my brother that I was too close to the story.”

I’m not entirely satisfied with the answer. I press him again. I ask him if the idea for a movie about Hansie wasn’t a response to the media, and perhaps an answer to some perceptions they may have left hanging. “It was frustrating, and irritating, especially what the British media said. But I had to divorce myself from those feelings.”



“What is the kernel for you, in making this film?” I ask, I insist, dogmatically.
“I have a passion to tell stories. Especially stories that I believe can change people. Faith (Like Potatoes) was a story where we had to introduce our audience to someone they’d probably never heard of. We had to say who he is. With Hansie it is the opposite, and it’s a scary process because we have expectations to deal with. Inspiration is part of what I do, and with Hansie there are a million stories you could tell. His life was so dramatic, and entertaining. In 1999, before the King Commission, I asked Frank to play Hansie.”[is this correct]

“Being Hansie’s boet, was casting difficult?”
“Bertha [Hansie’s wife] was difficult to cast. Because we had funding from America, they wanted an American actress. So we ended up with a shortlist of about 20 actresses. We chose Sarah Thompson. Within 30 seconds of talking to her I knew she was perfect. She has the incredible softness of Bertha, and we were happy that she’d performed in roles like Seventh Heaven, and had good, clean performances behind her name.”
“Did she learn the Bloemie accent?”
“No, she doesn’t have an Afrikaans-English accent. It’s more, mid-Atlantic. Neutral. I think she did well.”
“Why was that?” I ask.
“We learned on Faith that Australian and American audiences couldn’t always follow the South African accent.”
“Do you reckon Hansie will be popular outside South Africa?”
“For sure,” Frans answers, and somehow I am left in no doubt. Frans tells me, “Tonight I am signing contracts to distribute ‘Faith’ in America. We made Hansie for a worldwide audience. We have actors from South Africa, from the States, and Indian guys playing the bookies. We want this story to be accessible in India, England and Australia. It’s not a story about cricket; it’s a human story.”

Given the R42 million price tag, I wonder if Frans ever felt he was in over his head?
“No. But it was incredibly tough. And seeing the final result I’m very happy, and relieved.”
I ask him to explain how he went about production, given the stakes. Specifically I say, “Was there anything you wanted in the movie but couldn’t get?”
“We tried not to have surprises. We spent 8 months planning, storyboarding. Every shot was planned. So we knew what we wanted. We got what we wanted. We also hoped for big music and that aspect,” Frans says, “is magic.”

I ask Frans if he, or any other ‘real people’ appear in cameos, or even extras in the flick. He says he was in a scene as an extra, but the scene got cut due to time constraints.
“What about Vollies?” I ask, referring to Grey’s principal, Mr Johan Voldsteedt.

“Hansie made us proud to be South African, a pride that was much-needed.” Johan Voldsteedt, speaking at Hansie’s funeral

2006 was the last time I saw Voldsteedt in action. I was in a temporary post teaching in Bloemfontein. Mr. Volsteedt was invited to the school to inspire the matriculants ahead of their exam. The principal of the school that has delivered greats like Morne du Plessis, Francois Steyn, Ryk Neethling and hallowed others, didn’t disappoint. How could he?

“He was tough to cast,” Frans admits. “There’ll never be a Vollies. There’ll never be a Hansie or a Bertha,” Frans adds with typical Cronje diplomacy.
“But he definitely has his marbles,” I say. “To stand in the hall the way he does, you have to know what you’re saying…I mean, in some way that is a performance.”
“Reg,” (director Regardt van den Berg), “felt it was too dangerous to cast him,” Frans says. “We made no exceptions. The cast are all actors, even the guys who played Allan Donald and Jonty.”

“I don’t want to be you.” Aussie cricketer to Allan Donald following their 1 run defeat.

Frans describes the acting as “incredible’, that even for small parts “[we used] really good actors.”

At the mention of Jonty I think of this Youtube clip.




I’ve seen earlier in the afternoon. It shows Alistair Moulton-Black doing a typical Jonty run and dive. I notice the uniforms are very different, and just this seems to act as a time machine, giving added credibility to Cronje’s film.

Hansie presents South African audiences with an opportunity to embrace one of our best sons. His brother, the cast and everyone involved have worked hard to tell an intimate and touching story. Grey College boys around the world will undoubtedly flock to cinemas, but this is also a moment to celebrate the South Africana that exists in the heartland of this country. How often do we have a chance to do that?

“I made this movie to inspire people,” Frans explains. That is what Hansie did, and in his own way, Frans has chosen filmmaking to inspire. By all accounts, Hansie is a disciplined, and balanced flick. “It’s an honest story. It has sad parts and darker moments, but it’s really about how you start again.”

I allude quickly to the Hansie movie preview (flighted before The Dark Knight), and how powerfully – brief though it was – I was transported to my alma mater. I ask Frans whether South Africans won’t be turned off by the Christian elements in the film.
“ ‘If he was a Christian, why did he do that?’ I think the movie answers that. And to be true to Hansie, and to everything that happened, we had to put in those elements. I think word of mouth will get to the cynical people.”

Frans tells me that come December, a feature pack will be available for fans on DVD that includes a documentary, in 24 parts, 3 hours long, comprising 60 interviews, including with the Cronje clan.

I ask Frans to highlight Hansie’s best scenes.
“From the King Commission to the end. People said they knew Hansie up to the King Commission. It was a signature scene, and painful filming it. Hansie cried. You know he went into a room after one of the hearings and lay on the ground and cried. When we shot that scene I cried, and when I looked around me, everyone on set was crying.”

“Do you still dream of Hansie?” I ask, remembering words from the book.
“I often dream dreams. My brother in law, Gordon Parsons, calls me Joseph. Most of my dreams are muddled. When I dream of Hansie it’s extremely real, and I always wake up sad.”

Everbody loves a hero, and Hansie was everyone’s hero. But who of us can walk with crowds and hold their virtue? Once lost, how can we regain who we once were? Let us celebrate this South African son – another of our nation’s great prodigal sons – in a way only South Africans can: with unbridled love and enthusiasm. That, after all, is Hansie.

Hansie opens on September 24, the day before his birthday. He would have been 39 years old. More information at www.hansiemovie.com

Read my review of the movie here.

NVDL: The article was originally titled Hansie deserves our support. The editor changed it to Cronje on Cronje - a powerful duo. The article as it appears in the Sunday Independent also implies in a bracketed paragraph quoted verbatim that Hansie Cronje was headboy and so was I. That's an editorial mistake. Hansie's brother Frans was a vice head boy.

Movie Review: Hansie

Hansie’s not perfect

Hansie is a disappointing movie for a number of reasons. Bertha’s accent, the odd casting of Ali Bacher and the fact that Hansie is…well…irreplaceable. I recently read Garth King’s book and was disappointed that some of the subtler details (like the controversial handover of captaincy from Kepler to Hansie) aren’t in the movie. So is Hansie a waste of our precious time? Absolutely not.

What Frans Cronje – producer, and Hansie’s brother – has done is step very far away from the subject matter and then gradually, bring the lense closer and closer to his brother in what becomes a very touching, and ultimately, very sad story. Hansie is about winning, losing and winning again.

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 the school Grey College, answered that call.

I was at school with Hansie at the time, and I remember how the country was changing. How sport was changing. Although Hansie was a phenomenal cricketer at school, I didn’t pay much attention to cricket or have close to the love for cricket that he did – very few South Africans supported cricket in those years of isolation. There was no such thing as a South African cricket team in those days. This was a time when South Africans knew nothing about Benson&Hedges Day/Night matches. And yet Hansie dreamed of being in it, being the captain.

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 ‘0 clock in the morning, Hansie and 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’s team. This sort of hardy iron-willed gutsy ambition stood the Vrystaat boerseun in good stead ever since. There was never anything wrong with Hansie’s ability to back up big dreams with a hard as nails work ethic.

When Hansie became the captain of the South African team, he brought this discipline with him, instilled it in the players, but remained the fittest and most committed players, rivaled only by the likes of Jonty Rhodes, someone who became one of Hansie’s best friends.

A memorable scene in the flick is a pep talk by Bob Woolmer, who has just assumed the job of coaching the team. Woolmer, well played by Nick Lorentz says, “You can do 1 thing 100% better, but you achieve far more doing 100 things 1% better.” He also says: “One run can make a difference.”

The sport scenes in the movies are superb. No, they can’t really compare with the white knuckled suspense or reality of the real matches, but they certainly take you back. The famous 1994 encounter between Hansie and Warne (sporting those white lips) is brought in bright technicolor to the silver screen, so too that famous semi-final at Edgbaston where Allan Donald failed to get a final run for victory. [One run did make the difference]. You can see the movie makers know their cricket - Klusener’s determined flick-back batting style is purposefully rendered in this scene.

Frank Rautenbach does a fair if slightly chunky version of Hansie. South African audiences will more than likely identify more with him as a fellow South African than as Hansie in particular. That said, there are certainly glimpses of Hansie in Frank. In the smile, the demeanour, and particularly behind the bat. Brandon Auret does well as Frans Cronje, and Alistair Moulton-Black is a chip off the young Jonty. David Sherwood does a credibly preachy but somewhat softened Peter Pollock and David Minnaar brings appropriate reserve and distinction to the important role of the Grey Principal, and Hansie’s mentor, Johan Volksteedt. Minnaar’s accent in particular, is perfect. Bertha’s accent irks, but then due to funding arrangements from America, they wanted at least one American actress represented in the cast. Frans told me they wanted the entire cast to be coherent to overseas audiences, hence the near total absence of Bloemfontein accents.

All the scenes featuring Grey College boys work phenomenally well. I might be biased, but I felt my blood boil and juices start to race when they sang their songs of support for their ex-headboy. The footage of Grey captures a lot of the powerful emotional truth that Cronje, through this flick, seeks to share with the world. The soundtrack is good, although one quibble: where the crickers are in a montage of newspapers and videos (the sort of thing you see in a Rocky movie) you need a much deeper, louder and more powerful DOOF DOOF from the bass to capture the power, passion and adrenalin.

There is a point in the Hansie flick where what happened to Hansie begins to address our own struggles in life – whether it be against depression, or defeat, or a lack of belief either in ourselves or what we perceive in others. It’s an incredibly dispiriting feeling, especially when you’ve had it all at your feet.

There is also a point where the audience, who is drawn almost reluctantly into so many corridors of the story, begins to float ahead near the end, unencumbered by fear or resentment. I felt tremendous compassion for Hansie. A lot of the hardcore reviewers in the audience were in tears at the end, and I was close to them myself.

I’m not sure if it is possible to make the perfect biopic. This Frans Cronje/Rigardt van den Berg movie ultimately works because, after all, it is quintessentially a South African story about a mythical white boy from Bloemfontein.

Hansie may not be perfect, but this movie certainly deserves both our attention, and our support. Stay seated when the credits roll. The best part is the raw footage of Hansie swimming with a dolphin to Joe Niemand’s beautiful song, Cry Freedom.

Hansie opens September 24 at cinemas nationwide. This is the day before what would have been Hansie's 39th birthday.

NVDL: My interview with Frans Cronje is published in the Sunday Independent on the 21st of September. The article is titled Hansie deserves our support. You can read it here.