CINEWORLD is well used to screening blockbuster movies featuring a stellar cast and a storyline that builds tension as it twists and turns until it culminates with a hero stealing the show.
Last week’s premiere of the Saints TV exclusive documentary 'Saints Down Under: History Makers' may not have had the Hollywood budget or featured a gaggle of A-listers, but nonetheless the producers had an all-star cast to work with and a plotline that Martin Scorsese would have given his eye-tooth for.
That may sound like an exaggeration, but when our little town sends a team to the other side of the world and it goes on to beat the all-conquering NRL premiers Penrith on their own midden then it is an achievement should be shouted from the rooftops – and on the silver screen.
Despite all the viewers knowing just how Saints’ journey to Australia ends, the 90-minute film is pieced together in such a way that it keeps viewers transfixed, with eyes glued to the screen and on the edge of their seats as tension builds towards a gripping crescendo.
That is primarily because of the documentary format deployed, mixing up action with interviews and using previously unseen behind the scenes footage and contemporaneously conducted interviews, captured on the hoof.
So when – spoiler alert if you have been asleep for a year – scrum half Lewis Dodd chips over the match-clinching golden point drop goal to spark jubilant scenes, the euphoria that spilled out among the travelling fans packed behind the goal was felt equally among the privileged Cineworld audience.
It is a film that will make every Sintelliner want to puff out their chest and smile a warm smile – especially when hometown hero James Roby leads the team song afterwards.
We all know what happened out on the field, but the real nuggets of gold come in the behind the scenes footage, especially Paul Wellens’ pre-game team-talk which makes the hairs stand up on the back your neck.
There are light moments, too, as there would be from a band of brothers enjoying each other’s company on the other side of the world and yet never losing their sight of their focus to make history in the club’s 150th season.
We see the elation on James Graham's face - watching as a fan in typical heart-on-sleeve manner - as he celebrates with Alex Walmsley, Jonny Lomax and James Roby.
And you cannot help but smile at chairman Eamonn McManus – a man who took over at Saints reins when the future was far from rosy – and who celebrated this success as giddily as he would have done as a seven-year-old in the Knowsley Road Boys Pen.
Credit to the club’s Josh Howard for his camerawork on this production and for piecing it together, and also to tireless media manager Tom Maguire for the on-the-hoof interviews.
And also enormous credit to whoever’s finger was in charge of the bleep button.
Rugby league at this level is not a game tiddly-winks, and the high-pressured environment sometimes brings out industrial language – but that shows how much this game meant.
That said, there was one team-talk passage from Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook that was bleeped so heavily that it sounded like he was speaking in Morse code.
It is a five-star production – and Saints fans are in for a real treat when Saints Down Under: History Makers goes live on the Club’s official on-demand video channel, Saints TV then from Thursday, 18 January at 8pm.
Rating: 5/5.
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