Considering that the events in this documentary took place in 1956, most people out there (including myself) were not alive at the time and only know of the events through history books....if folks bother to read them. I am old enough, however, to remember much of the Cold War and when the US and USSR were at each other's throats--so the context for "Freedom's Fury" is something I do understand. But, with lots of young folks who were born after the fall of the Iron Curtain, much of this film might come as a surprise--and it's a wonderful history lesson about these tense times.Mark Spitz (yes, THAT Mark Spitz) narrates this documentary about the 1956 Hungarian Olympic Water Polo team and their match-up with the Soviet Union's team. However, before discussing this, the film spends a lot of time explaining the failed 1956 Hungarian revolt against the Soviets. All of the information is well presented--with the usual interviews and film footage. And, in addition to talking about these events, the film ends by showing a reunion of the team--along with a few members of the old Soviet team. I really liked this part--especially since it provided a bit of hope and a nice conclusion to the documentary. Overall, very well done, interesting, uplifting and well worth your time.

This movie's History Channel style of editing, production and scoring cheapen an otherwise riveting story. And while the Soviet Union is rightly portrayed as the imperial aggressor for its murderous response to the Hungarian uprising of 1956, there is little effort to place the narrative in any meaningful context outside a kind of generic idea of freedom. It's hard not to interpret this oversimplification of history as unwitting agitprop for an unstated purpose. But more than this, and to reiterate, there's no need to dumb down and dress up history with crappy canned TV docudrama music, misleading editing, and cheesy graphics. If a story is good, let it tell itself and you won't have to pasteurize it for the masses.

I just came across this at the library. I am a big fan of documentaries and I have to say that this one is excellently made. The pacing is great. I love how they link the huge (Revolution) to the what seems less important ( a water polo match). I love this lack of separation. They really show well the consequences of living under a dictatorship and oppression. Also well shown is how a popular movement of regular people can make a difference. I also learned much about water polo and I much more interested than I ever was before.It is also a wonderfully paced and well edited piece. Great musical score. I also love that they are very fair and show all perspectives on the uprising. I really learned much that I did not know about this event.Having said this there are some bones I have to pick with them.A very minor one is that they make it look like the civil rights movement was inspired by this. That there would have been no civil rights movement without this uprising. Definitely, not true. The civil rights movement was going on long before 1956. I have also read nothing on the subject of civil rights that shows that they were directly inspired by Budapest.One big thing that was missing was the effect of the match had on a recently crushed people. That was a segment that should have been in there. Maybe some interview questions from the people in prison of what they felt when they found out about the results of the match.Having made these criticism, I still have to say that this a fantastic film. The positives outweigh the negatives by a huge margin. Not only, is this worth seeing, it worth seeing again and again. Definitely worth owning.

Very interesting documentary about the Hungarian water polo team that defeated the Soviet Union in the semi finals of the 1956 Olympics, and the Hungarian uprising against the Soviets that was going on at the same time. I had no idea any of this took place, so it was a very informative documentary. All of the surviving Hungarian team members were interviewed as well as some of the Soviet members and they told about their experiences before, during, and after the match.It was well made and well edited, the film-making did a great job with all of the material they had to go through to put it together.Produced by Lucy Liu and Quentin Tarantino and narrated by world famous swimmer Mark Spitz, I hope this film gets a wider release so that many people can learn about this amazing story.