simon-eskow 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.

Rosebud This is a brilliant documentary! Whether you are interested in sports, history or just purely what freedom means and what people will do for it or nations to repress it, it will give you something to contemplate for a long time. I think it will appeal to people who have experienced or seen repression elsewhere.It puts the 1956 Hungarian revolution beautifully into context. It took USSR 2000 tanks (same number as Hilter had to advance the whole western front in WW2) to defeat the uprising of a spirited nation.It's also lovely portrait of water polo and what it means to Hungary and Hungarians.

welshNick True story of the brutal clash between Hungary and USSR in the water polo pool at the 1956 Olympics. As the Soviet tanks were suppressing the peoples' uprising in Hungary, the Water Polo team decided to give the population something to cheer about by kicking the Soviets ass in the water polo pool. Narrated by Mark Spitz this wonderful film, with much archive footage, tells the story of that clash. It includes interviews with the surviving players and shows what the Hungarian people went through. The team gave the people at home the one thing that the USSR had tried to take away ..... HOPE. Everyone should see this film, not just sports buffs and I urge everyone, if they get the chance, to visit Budapest. Like a lot of Eastern Europe, it is a beautiful City and the people are most friendly.

Leslie Eloed Hello and greetings to all of you visiting this preview... As one who took part in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and have studied the cause and aftermath thereof, I find the film is an excellent retelling of the events of those days. What makes it specifically valuable, that it was created by non-Hungarians, young Americans without bias Hungarians might have had. The outside onlookers, a far later generation with the objectivity of the time lapsed since, who had to do a lot of research and studying. This film is considered by many, historians and participants alike, as one of the most historically accurate documentations of the events leading up to the revolution, and the days thereafter. The underlying story of the Melbourne Olympic Water polo "fight" between Hungarians and Russians while the first war between Socialist Countries, Hungary and Russia was still being fought in Hungary, gives it a social value, interest created by the sport, without emphasizing the street-fights and killings. To see and hear Mark Spitz at the Los Angeles showing of the film was an extra great bonus. I sure hope, it will be available very soon on DVD.Colin Gray and Megan started to work on this project about five years ago, with the hope to complete the film for the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and Freedom Fight. They did succeed, and congratulations and "Thank you" is well deserved and in order from all of us, who were part of that Revolution, to all of those who helped create the film.