Coming across like Doctor Zhivago with water sports, this sweeping drama tells of a romance between the star player of Hungary’s invincible water polo team and a young radical caught up in the country’s 1956 uprising. With Karcsi (Iván Fenyö) torn between love, political idealism and team duty, things come to a head at the Melbourne Olympics, where, with Russian tanks rolling back into Budapest to quash the rebellion, Hungary faces the USSR for a bloodthirsty clash in the pool. Few sports movies can boast such an historic encounter, so it’s a pity that the eventual match feels anti-climactic. It’s as if director Krisztina Goda doesn’t trust the polo sequences to hold our attention, not realising that this compelling story has us ready to leap from our seats with vicarious patriotism.
