Wonderful character development!

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Let's be realistic.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Seve: The Movie succeeds in creating a tribute to the great Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros which both acts as documentary and a universal, engaging story of passion and perseverance. A mixture of conventional, archive-based documentary and dramatized biopic – Director John-Paul Davidson does a masterful job of fleshing out the past of young Ballesteros. Child actor Jose Luis Gutierrez convincingly takes on this role. While lesser films would have delved into melodrama, Seve: The Movie shows the failures as well as the triumphs to give a sense of realism to the making of one of golf's legends. Flitting between footage of its subject's triumphs at the British Open and US Masters, and a reenactment of his impoverished childhood as a farmer's son in Spain, the charismatic figure of Ballesteros shines through. Filled with passion, charm, and occasional humor, the film will have you cheering on this golfing pro whether you are familiar with him at the onset of the movie or not.

I found this such a refreshing doc, brim full of life (produced by its charismatic lead and nostalgic nods to the hero's past) and anchored in a bittersweet reality. It also isn;t afraid to take its time with a slow build that weans you off the drama before delivering a rousing archive-led conclusion. Really could;t recommend it highly enough. My husband and his father recommended it and it certainly played to a female perspective for good old-fashioned story- telling even if the protagonist is a boy's own hero. The music is also wonderful, similarly befitting from a natural simplicity and effortlessly tracking the character arc without ever laying it on too thickly. My takeaways from this movie are two-fold - I will be among the first in the DVD queue whenever it comes out and I will be taking a holiday to Pedrena with my hubby next summer. Stunning visually and an unabashed ode to what makes a remarkable human being

I don't much care for golf, but I love biopics and remembered Seve fondly even though I knew little of his life, and certainly childhood. I've never quite seen anything like this film, however, which resets the bar for docu-drama with what appears a faithful reworking of Seve's story, told through the eyes of formative years and engaging archive footage. The latter is amusing, informative and fascinating, the former is beautifully shot, sweet and life-affirming. This must've been an editing nightmare but the balance really works, setting up the real payoff: an in overwhelming final 30 mins. Top marks for editing, ingenuity and emotive film-making.

Motor-sport is made for the bio-pic treatment, as we have seen with Senna and Rush - fast cars, glamour, money, the international circuit, and so on. Golf, on the other hand, would not be high on most people's list of sports likely for the big screen bio-pic treatment. It really would need a very special person to keep anyone other than real fans hooked for nearly two hours (especially when most people already know the story).Fortunately in Seve golf has that story. This really is a tale where fiction could not come close to the reality - the story of a boy from so far the other side of the tracks that there are not even tracks who gets to the top of a sport more associated with money (and appalling fashion sense) than possibly any other by dint of unusual talent, allied to sheer hard work.Even so it needs a cast that you can believe in - and Seve finds it. Admittedly at the start one wondered a bit about whether this all Spanish-speaking cast would be up to it - especially the young lead - as the initial scene-setting creaked a bit at times, but once things got into their stride the result was impressive.The young lead playing the junior Seve is particularly impressive. What is remarkable is that you do not have to like golf at all to love this film. not only his golfing style looked like the real thing, but he also can clearly play a bit - well that or there is some pretty impressive trick photography or hours of film of missed shots on the cutting room floor.And it all builds to a total tear-jerker of a finale, which is impressive as we all know how it will end.You do not have to like golf (I'm no real fan), think of it as a real life rags-to-riches tale like few others. Go see it.