love this kind of movie you can learn meaningful things

sweet

This movie was unbelievably good and I cried through the entire last 30 min . The story is one of perseverance and guts , sacrifice and valor and of the power of allowing yourself to be different and fight . First of all I cannot believe I had never heard this story before - I am a HUGE sports fan and this has slipped through the cracks . The story sticks very closely to truth with some artistic liberties taken but for the most part - it remains true to the original . The message and feeling and moral is true and the feeling is true . It is so easy to forget how much sacrifice and drive and challenging of society went into the opportunities that we as women and girls have today in sports because of women like this and she was able to do it because of the strong women around her - this movie made me thankful and humble . The casting was awesome and so was the character development . Loved the whole family and you hated the "villains " the chemistry between sisters and that bond really made the movie and Ridley was great . Both "Eppy" and Trudy's mom were hard core women and then were courageous and authentic . The best scene in the movie involves Meg helping Trudy and realizing not every dream is the same and you can live yours and accept life happily and also support those around you . My only complaint comes in that it felt a bit ... juvenile ? Low production quality ? Not the best script writing / dialogue specifically ? I am not sure but I loved it regardless and will watch it again and again. Swim towards the light and remember " there's no place like sports "

As a Disney movie it was absolutely entertaining and well made. A lot of good actors doing some pretty decent acting and the amount of production value you would expect. But.... as an historical drama it was just not credible, to put it mildly. Almost parodical. Sure women had a hard time being respected and acknowledged in a male dominant world, no doubt about that, but you dont have to make stuff up in order to get that point across. Her trainer poisoning her..... ? Come on! The true story of Gertrude Ederle was plenty enough dramatic and epic without the cheesy rewriting and Disneyfication of this movie. It is a shame really and a misused opportunity I think. Also.... are we supposed to believe the South Foreland Lighthouse was turned off this night? I guess it must have been in order for the script to add up.... or perhaps Disney would have us believe this all happened before there were any lighthouses? And the small boats with the journalists must have had incredibly deep keels since they for some reason could not follow her the last stretch. The annoying thing is that there was little reason to make up all that ridiculous stuff just to heighten the drama. You expect a bit of dramatisation in a movie like this, for sure, but when it becomes ridiculous the storytelling fails and it becomes a parody, almost mocking the real true story of Gertrude Ederle. I think her legacy deserves better than this.

Prepare to be bored in two hours; everything is predictable. The acting is very poor, the cliches are always the same. It is a filmwork that doesn´t bring nothing new. The directing is poor in that movie, as the actors and actresses. The screenplaying is boring, it doesn´t bring anything new. If you compare the protagonist face with the real person face , you find quickly there is a fictional part, of making a cute woman in the movie when the real one wasn´t. Why is that??? Take note of Charlize Theron in MONSTER; She is a beautiful woman, but the role she played was of an ugly woman and a serial killer. That was a good job. When it comes to the end, there is always the same, actual footage from the day she did it. Very very poor movie, more like a tv movie, full of cliches and bad acting. Bad directing, bad screenplaying. Maybe the only thing that we could talk well about is the design of production and the photography. Nothing else, nothing more; those type of biopics really get you bored; You are warned 4 stars out of 10.

Went into this feeling a bit lukewarm to be honest. Expecting a schmaltzy Disney production looking to over eagerly tug at viewers heart strings. Well, heart strings were indeed plucked, like an old second hand guitar. But it was done earnestly and at no point do you feel you are being emotionally played with. "based on a true story", it announces from the first screen, so those objecting to how far it was from the truth, get back in your box. After googling Gertrude Ederle, this viewer did not feel in an way duped by the dramatization presented of her story. Not much to say regarding the script, production, acting etc, other than I for one found nothing to criticize, it was just so good in all respects. Slightly preachy in regards to misogyny, women's rights?, of course it is, it was the 1920s, yet a century later there are some in the USA that would have the clocks rolled back in that regard. Which is why it is a shame that this movie is not getting a wider release. Watch it with family for a great shared occasion, or alone if you need inspiration, or with a bunch of mates...don't worry, if you feel a tear coming on, pretend you have something in your eye.

This is one of those rare cases of a film so well written and directed that you get drawn to being emotionally invested in the outcome even though, with it being a true story, you know how it ends before the film even starts. Whilst I didn't know about Trudy Ederle before the film came out, and I'm sure the writers have taken a few liberties with all the facts for dramatic purposes, the central theme remains faithful. That is a talented woman who had to overcome the inherent bias of women in sport to achieve her ultimate success. And this is where the film hits all the right notes building up that picture of her fight to be allowed to swim, to be allowed to attempts tje channel swim and to ultimately succeed. The film also benefits from a great cast, with great performances. Stephen Graham and Kim Bodnia are as reliable as ever, Jeanette Hain, Sian Clifford and Tilda Cobham-Hervey put in great supporting performances as mother, trainer and sister respectively. However, this for me is Daisy Ridley's finest performance to date and marks her out as a serious dramatic actress where she can finally shake off the threat of only being remembered as Rey from the SW franchise. It's a simple story, told in a very understated way and that is its strength. The story sells itself and the director just shines light on it. Very well done.

Based on a true story, this above-average geneder-bender holds the attention nicely through a runtime that goes a whisker over two hours. Some critics have compared it to SEABiSCUIT 2003 - a film that made my list of all-time greats -- but that comparison is a tad generous. The arc is predictable and the technicals are solid. Credit to Daisy Ridley for projecting a commanding presence throughout the film. To her credit, the viewer never once doubts that she can do whatever she says she can. Not a simple acomlishment! A hidden irony here is that, to do a film on gender rights, the Disney Studio is impliedly acknowledging that that there are two to begin with -- a concept almost certainly distressing to upper management. Recommended. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

This film is not visually unique like "Avatar: A Journey to Pandora" and is not as action-packed as various superhero films of the last few decades. The TRUE story of a remarkable woman needs none of that. With a lot of heart and feeling, without appearing cheesy, this film tells how Gertrude "Trudy" Ederle asserts herself in a man's world and tackles the English Channel despite all odds. Especially in times of upheaval and conflict, it doesn't hurt to be aware that it was only 100 years ago that Western women were so ridiculed and excluded by men. This film has an exclusively good cast in which every single role is played well and believably. In addition, the film gives an overall impression of the time and also the dangers associated with swimming this route. 10 stars because I don't know how the story could be staged better. Costumes, actors, music, set design, it is a masterpiece of its genre that I have nothing to criticize, on the contrary: I am touched.

This was the worst movie I have ever seen in a very long time. First of all it wasn't even accurate. Because she made her second attempt to swim English channel one year later, not immediately after her 1st failure. But even before that there were lots of unrealistic meaningless events. 1. Together with her sister they started swimming lessons but she has to work to keep the boiler going. Then she fought through her way to swim. But her swimming teacher didn't think that she needed to teach her some swimming style before being forced to compete with others. 2. The Olympic community did everything to prevent her winning just because she was a woman. 3. Her coach tried everything to prevent her from getting enough calories to swim in the ice cold water by saying she should look slim and beautiful. So she has to eat only fruits. Who does that? Who believes in that? 4. While she was swimming in her 1st attempt her coach insisted not to swim fast ? Why? They didn't even know how to feed the swimmer in the water. 5. On her 2nd attempt she had to swim through jelly fishes, they made a huge deal like jelly fishes were poisonous but afterwards she didn't have any problem. It was so funny. 6. After about 14 hours later she reached England and this score was 2 hours better than male swimmers. But before even though they knew the estimated passing time of the English Channel still people on the boat was saying it's getting dark she should come out of the water and stop racing. How insane? They didn't know anything about timing, or probably they didn't even care!!! How unprofessional. 7. After she reached England on the shore they didn't even bring her towels, she could die there because of the cold and when the officers asked for her passport they laughed. As if it was a joke. No one brought her stuff in the boat with them. What were they expecting was she going to swim back to France?!!!