Barry, a supervisor in a brick factory in Johanesburg, is a man that wants to train some of his workers for the grueling Comrade marathon. His superior comes to him early in the story to tell him he is replacing him with a younger, more capable black man. Barry, who is of retirement age, doesn't take the news kindly because it will separate him from the four athletes he is training and feels they will not have the discipline he demands of them.One day Barry discovers a young woman running. She is Christine, who shows all the characteristics to make an excellent long distance runner and who will do well at the Comrade. Barry takes her under his wing and even brings her to his suburban home, something that is not looked kindly by the white neighbors who object of the intrusion.Barry's demands and how he deals with the training of Christine makes the young woman leave him. She needs a job and has to find her own way in the world. As the marathon day comes close, Christine and Barry are reunited, but on her terms. Christine goes to win the race as the first South African black woman to do so.Jean Stewart's film doesn't seem to make up its mind where to go. It's not realistic the way he approaches the way he sets his story. One goes along, because it's a predictable feel good movie, where we know before hand how will it end.Armin Mueller Stahl is good as Barry, the man who has tried for the Comrade himself, and failed. Nthati Moshesh is appealing as Christine, a dark beauty who makes a valuable contribution to the film.

Well, I only caught the tail end of this film on HBO, just the final 10 minutes or so, but I must say that it contains probably the most laughable depiction of distance running EVER put on film! I'm a serious distance runner and a dedicated fan of the sport, and I've sat through many painful demonstrations in movies before. However, nothing could have ever prepared me for what is shown on screen in the final 10 minutes of this movie, it literally defies belief! The depiction of the runners is even more ironic considering that African runners completely dominate the sport, and they are elegant and graceful. The female protagonist shuffles along like an overweight pregnant woman, and her "highly trained" male supporters are no better. Well into the race this alleged world class runner is surrounded by pudgy, overweight people, many of whom are WALKING! I find it interesting that the director decided to have her lead the female competition, yet near the end she is shown passing people who look like they're staggering along on two broken legs! Are we to believe that this amazing stellar athlete has only overtaken a crippled person at the very end of the race? Maybe the director just thinks that female runners can't run faster than 12 minute miles, and he has obviously never heard of athletes like Paula Radcliffe or Tirunesh Dibaba.Even if you aren't a running fan you'll be astonished by the insanely inaccurate portrayal of running, and this movie is only watchable as unintentional comedy. Here is a note to the director: The next time you decide to make a movie about a sport, it might be worth it to hire at least one person who actually has observed that sport in action.

This movie was okay. As a former athlete of a good standard, and a great fan of the Comrades marathon, I was just able to stay interested for most of the film. Non running fanatics may struggle to find much in this film. As a South African, I recognised the usual suspects, it seems the same group of actors appear in all South African films, maybe we have only 10 actors in the whole country. On the whole the acting was fairly thin, the main role of coach was played fairly well though. Apart from that not much to write home about. The female lead and athlete could not run that well, although she shows a good body in a swimming scene. True athletes will find some of the facts hard to believe, but non runners probably won't notice. Also, as a South African film the usual black/white dynamic are explored, as well as some of the intolerance of the white people and the hardships of the black people. While these cannot be denied it would be nice to see a South African film one day that can focus on something else? Anyway, these aspects are not explored at too much length, so the running fans who come to expect a running film from the film cover, plot and description have something to watch. Those interested in the featured Comrades Marathon itself, will appreciate some of the shots of race day. This is an actual 90km marathon that takes place in Durban and Pitermaritzburg every year (alternating), and is without doubt the greatest ultra marathon in the world, attracting yearly fields of 15000. It is also well supported with crowds lining most of the 90km, it is basically a National Event. If you find the movie does not do the race justice, and you are interested in doing an ultra marathon, rest assured that this is the best there is, with support from runners world wide. I feel the movie let's the race down slightly, the acting is simply one dimensional and very few scenes get your emotions involved. 4 stars for non runners, 5 stars for running fans.

This is a South African propaganda film wherein all the blacks and all the whites interact as if race has never been an issue. The utter lack of tension between the haves and have nots is so distracting that for awhile I thought that this was an intentional plot device and that there would eventually be some secret revealed to explain the phony harmony. No such luck.Whoever wrote, directed, and produced this movie knows very little about what real marathon running is like (many pudgy athletes easily cover 20-40 miles while not even one runner who looks like a long distance runner is shown!)..The female lead is very beautiful, and she can act, but she can't run. Her backstory is tantalizingly, but no details ever are offered to explain how this illegal alien has learned such perfect English, self composure, and good mental hygiene. She is the second lead in the film and all we know is that she can run (it would be nice to know why), and that she is smarter than and unafraid of all whites, men, and governmental authorities (why and how this is so is an unforgivable omission).I am almost always a big fan of Mueller-Stahl, but here he is given nothing to work with. He plays an embittered coach who at 60 still cannot train his athletes without reliving his own humiliating experiences in the same race 40 years before. The story unfolds in fits and starts, jumping over gaping plot holes while lingering forever on Mueller-Stahl's quite unbelievably self-absorbed and obviously ineffective dedication to training runners. By the day of the big race he is totally psychotic, becoming more and more unhinged the closer his runner comes to actually winning the race. Again, a little more backstory could have made his Germanic anal retentiveness less cliched.It is never made clear what the coach's goal for his prodigy is: to finish, to make it past the hill he himself couldn't conquer, or to actually win. All we know is that he treats her like a robot and screams annoyingly at her to always slow down. No wonder his methods are at one point referred to as "eccentric".This movie was made with an agenda to depict South Africa in insultingly inaccurate ways. Can anyone still spell apartheid?