Blood & Glory
Blood and Glory (Afrikaans: Modder En Bloed) is a feature film that was released to cinema in April 2016 in South Africa. The film, set during the Second Boer War in 1901, is a period drama that follows Willem Morkel, a Cape Rebel Boer/Afrikaans farmer who was captured and sent to a British prisoner of war camp on St. Helena Island in the Atlantic Ocean. Placed under terrible oppression and hardship, Morkel and his comrades slowly come together to assert their defiance, humanity and human spirit and, more specifically, through the game of rugby.
| Blood and Glory | |
|---|---|
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| Modder En Bloed | |
| Directed by | Sean Else |
| Produced by | Llewelynn Greeff
Henk Pretorius Sean Else |
| Music by | Quinn Lubbe |
| Cinematography | Adam Joshua Bentel |
| Edited by | Quinn Lubbe |
| Distributed by | Ster Kinekor |
Release date |
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| Country | South Africa |
| Language | English Afrikaans |
Blood and Glory is a fictional account, using the backdrop of the Anglo-Boer War with some of the places in the plot resembling historical locations from the war. The film's protagonist, Willem Morkel, is loosely based on Sommie Morkel, who went on to play for the South Africa national rugby union team.
The historical authenticity of backdrop events, conditions and attitudes in the plot of the film can be debated, as its depiction of the Boers and the British relies heavily on glorification of the former and vilification of the latter. However, the film's main villain (Australian Colonel Swanell) owes something to the real life Breaker Morant (convicted for murder and as a war criminal by the British during the Boer War and executed). It is documented that 28 000 Boer women and children, as well as 20 000 black people, died in British concentration camps (Professor Fransjohan, 2011 writing for BBC). The film also makes mention of the scorched earth policy implemented by Kitchener during the Boer War.
Blood and Glory is a co-production by Dark Matter Studios and Collective Dream Films. The film is written and directed by Sean Else (Spud 2, Platteland, 'n Man soos My Pa), and produced by Llewelynn Greeff (Leading Lady and The Unfamiliar) and Henk Pretorius (Leading Lady, Fanie Fourie's Lobola, Wolwedans in die Skemer, Hoofmeisie, Bakgat Trilogy and The Unfamiliar)
Cast
Blood and Glory includes a strong South African male cast, along with five international actors – a first for a South African film:
- Stian Bam as Willem Morkel
- Charlotte Salt as Katherine Sterndale
- Grant Swanby as Colonel Swannel
- Patrick Connolly as Finn Kelly
- Albert Maritz as Isak Naude
- Michael Richard as Governor Sterndale
- Bok van Blerk as Kommandant Gideon Scheepers
- Altus Theart as Daniel 'Yster' Malherbe
- Jacques Bessenger as Phil Blignaut
- Edwin van der Walt as Marius Prinsloo
- Gustav Gerdener as Eddie Mijnhardt
- Rudy Halgryn as Lt. Butler
- Albert Pretorius as Gawie Mentz
- Jaco Muller as Giepie 'Rot' Nel
- David Louw as Johnny Pienaar
- Nick Cornwall as Sgt.Skirving
- Marno van der Merwe as JJ 'Ratel' Wessels
- Josh Myers as Corporal Evans
- Deon Lotz as Maartens
- De Klerk Oelofse as Wynand Cronjé
- Francios Coertze as Os le Grange
- Benedikt Sebastian as Greyling
- Jonathan Holby as Captain Edwards
- Jandre le Roux as Longtom Van Tonder
The film also features appearances from well-known South African actors Greg Kriek, Clyde Berning, Paul Snodgrass, Carla Else and Andrew Lopescher.
Production
Filming took place during winter in the Western Cape, South Africa in 2015, specifically in the Worcester area and parts of Cape Town. Some sequences were filmed on a boat off the coast of Hout Bay.
Distribution
The film was released on 1 April 2016 in South Africa via distribution partners of the film Ster Kinekor to 51 cinemas nationwide. The film stayed in cinema for a total of 8 weeks, leaving all sites in South Africa on 19 May 2016.
The producers of the film are currently in talks with the following territories for international distribution of Blood & Glory:
- UK and Ireland
- USA & Canada
- Europe
- Asia
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Latin America