Plot Summary
Leon Terblanche was always told by his father that he would never amount to anything. When he and his mother fled the abuse of his home only to abandon him at a hotel, Leon found himself as the only white child in a segregated African community during apartheid in South Africa. However, the government discovered him there and took him away to be passed from home to home before he was able to strike out of his own and begin working for the railroad. During his whole life, Leon was always angry and resentful towards his father, even after he married and began a family of his own. He medicated this anger with alcohol, but when everything hit a breaking point, he was forced to choose between his own ways and the ways of the God he always pushed away.
Production Quality (2 points)
Despite their landmark production Faith Like Potatoes, Global Creative Studios did not have as much production success in Born to Win. The video quality, camera work, and action shots are fine in this film, and the audio is fairly good, but there are several other issues to contend with. While sets, locations, and props are sometimes fine and realistic, there are some very obvious fake backgrounds that put a damper on things. Plenty of time and effort was put into this production, including a good soundtrack, but there are a handful of small things that hold it back from being all it could be. The most glaring problem that hurts the film is the severely choppy editing, and this is also related to the plot problems. Moreover, this production is mainly above average, but it’s still a letdown after the success of Faith Like Potatoes.
Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)
Frans Cronje and his team have always been committed to telling the great and true stories of real people with real struggles, and this commitment is still evident in Born to Win. However, despite the great source material, the presentation of it is quite poor. This is most notable due the extreme amount of heavy-handed narration that greatly hurts character growth and plot development. The narration is mainly used to plug up the plot holes created by the breakneck time jumps that are present in the story. These two factors combined make it nearly impossible for characters to develop as the dialogue is stunted and choppy. Despite the little time available, there are still lots of wasted scenes, and though there is plenty of content to work with in the real story, there is little to no story organization as it jumps from one thing after the next. Too much ground is attempted to be covered without the effective use of flashbacks or actual dialogue. The lack of substantial dialogue and character development makes it very difficult to appreciate the otherwise meaningful struggles of the characters due to the wasted time and large gaps, and viewers are told things that are hard to believe due to poor development. Unfortunately, it all boils down to a flat ending with little meaning because of this. It’s too bad because there was tons of potential here for a great message to be shared.
Acting Quality (1 point)
Though the acting appears to begin well, it tends to get worse as the film goes on, especially as cast members are forced to play multiple age brackets that they are not exactly suited for. Line delivery and emotions can be awkward at times, and there is an overall need for more coaching. There are times when emotions are lines are too forced, and there are one too many scenes of poorly executed yelling and screaming. Overall, this caps off a mostly disappointing effort that had so much going for it.
Conclusion
The Cronje creative team has definitely shown the height of their potential, but it’s possible they tried to do too much on their own in Born to Win. Faith Like Potatoes obviously had a better collaborative effort behind it, which is an important lesson to learn in film making. One success does not equal constant success; it’s something has to be continually worked for, and it’s definitely not easy. However, it’s totally worth it in the end, especially when you have good stories that need to be told.
Final Rating: 3.5 out of 10 points
Box Office Revolution 