Hansie – The True Story

Movie background from Press Kit provided by producers Global Creative Studios

How do you start over once you have betrayed a nation’s trust?

Hansie Cronjé captained the South African cricket team through a golden era in South African cricket from November 1994 until 11 April 2000. Seventy percent of one-day international matches played under his captaincy were victories. At one time, he was the youngest member of the team – and its captain. He is still statistically one of the most successful cricket captains in the world.

Hansie Cronjé remains a potent national icon and one of the most controversial sporting figures of recent times. He was adored by the South African public and commanded the respect of millions throughout the world for his shining cricket captaincy.

Leading the post-Apartheid South African cricket team back into international cricket with remarkable success, Hansie, with his outspoken Christian beliefs and well-mannered nature, epitomised all the values of the ‘gentleman’s sport’ he played.

He was a leader second to none and in the after glow of a newly formed democratic nation, he represented all the hope that the new ‘rainbow nation’ had to offer. Nelson Mandela praised him as a shining example of talent and leadership. The people loved him. It seemed as if he could not put a foot wrong.

The news of Hansie’s involvement with Indian bookmakers, then, came as a crushing blow to the public. It resulted in his unprecedented fall. Hansie was ‘sentenced to death’ in the media and was delivered a life ban from cricket by the South African Cricket Board. The once loved and revered son of South African cricket had become a pariah, a traitor and outcast.

The story of Hansie is essentially a human one. It journeys through the questions of how one picks oneself up after a devastating loss. For Hansie this loss was on every level of his life and perhaps deepest was the loss of faith in himself. For such a high achieving individual to experience rejection on so many levels and to see all his accomplishments and hopes dashed, it was almost a crushing blow.

For Frans Cronjé, Hansie’s older brother, telling Hansie’s story has not been an easy journey but a necessary one. Frans is both the producer and screenwriter of the movie.

Frans says, “There are many reasons for making this film. There are lessons to be learned from Hansie’s life. The Earl of Rosebery, British Prime Minister in 1894, said, “Mankind is helped in its progress almost as much by the study of imperfection as by the contemplation of perfection.” I think we can all learn from Hansie’s mistakes and successes.”

The second reason is that Frans feels the media have misrepresented Hansie’s story. “Someone needed to tell Hansie’s story in an accurate, well-balanced way.” The move has the blessing of all those who knew Hansie best, his close circle of friends and family.

Some regard Hansie as a liar and a cheat. Others, the majority it seems, view him as a flawed national hero, one that brought the South African cricket team gloriously back into the international limelight. Despite his history and the humiliation of his fall, a recent poll in South Africa voted Hansie Cronjé the 11^th greatest South African of all time.

This movie attempts to get to grips with the person, both in his glory and his flawed humanity. Movie Director Regardt van den Bergh speaking about the film says, “We are not doing a movie about cricket, we are doing a movie about our frailty before temptation and our weakness. That is what it’s about for me.”