Barracuda

A fictional mini-series about a young swimmer from an average working-class family (half Scottish / half Greek) with a lot of talent who dreams of one day winning an Olympic medal. To achieve that goal, thanks to a scholarship, he goes to school at a private elite school where swimming is highly regarded and where many regional successes with swimming have already been achieved. Likewise with the 4 x 100 m freestyle team he ends up in and who, despite his achievements and potential, would rather lose him than get rich as his arrival could mean the end of one of the other swimmers in the team. . However, this is not the only aspect of the whole story because after a while it turns out that in addition to a gold medal, he also dreams of one of his teammates, which does not seem to be completely mutual. Enough material for something that turns out to be a pleasant viewing piece and that, for a layman like me, beautifully portrays swimming. Where in the first episodes everything seems to go at an acceptable pace, however, I suspect that somewhere halfway through the recording of the third episode, an attentive accountant has informed the makers that the funds have started to dwindle because suddenly everything is going very fast. . In contrast to the first half of this miniseries, going from heaven to hell and back is suddenly only a matter of minutes and it all went a bit wrong for me. Suddenly it all gets a bit too superficial, what is supposed to be dramatic becomes rather theatrical, and you just feel that someone has ordered the story to be completed as soon as possible, after which you get to decide for yourself at the end of the fourth episode. it went right on. A pity and a missed opportunity because if this story about 6 episodes had been brought up to the pace of the first half and had given it a somewhat dignified, cheerful or otherwise, then this miniseries could have been a topper without a doubt. Unfortunately, that is not really the case now. That does not alter the fact that it is still a nice mini-series to look forward to a dark afternoon in one go. As said fiction, although the writer of all this, Christos Tsiolkas, according to some, partly based his story on swimmers Danny Kowalski and Ian Thorpe. What aspect of their life and whether this is also true, it is best to leave it open.

Really enjoyed this short but very beautiful mini series. Recommended