Movie Review Phantom of the Open

We seem to be in an era of quaint, British everyman films. Films where men like Maurice Flitcroft stand up to a stuffy establishment and – politely, mind – say “I’ll have a crack.” Often delightful films where we’re whisked away to a simpler time (persistently set in post-World War Two) where hope and change are inseparable.

Director Craig Robert’s ‘Phantom of the Open’ is just one such a tale. A biopic based on an incredulously true story that warms the heart. And, unlike its referential namesake, is no musical, but instead an optimistic vignette of one man’s dream-chasing.

Maurice Flitcroft, that dreamer, was (at least in the real world) a chain-smoking, shipyard crane-operator from Barrow-in-Furness, a small port town close to England’s Lake District.

In Robert’s true-to-life rendition of Flitcroft (played in earnest, lovable and daffy fashion by Mark Rylance), we follow a man of aspiring dreams who has put those dreams on hold for his family. In an occupational ennui, Flitcroft decides upon a late-in-life charge to finally meet his lofty ambitions. He endeavours to participate in the British Open Golf Championship – much to the ire of the golfing upper crust.

The crux of the matter is that he’s never played a round of golf before. But this is an extraordinary story of an ordinary man.

With the support by his family and friends, he manages to gain entry to the 1976 British Open qualifying, and with pluckiness and unwavering self-belief, Flitcroft pulls off a series of stunning, hilarious and touching attempts to compete at the highest level of professional golf – becoming likely “the world’s worst sportsman” and a cult hero along the way.

Uplifting and moving, The Phantom of the Open manages the balance between comedy and drama deftly, all the while illuminating a man who pursued his dreams and shot for the stars, no matter what hand he was dealt.

You can watch the hole-in-one film Phantom of the Open (M) at Bowen Summergarden Cinema from August 20.

Marky Rylance is a delight in the whimsical comedy, Phantom of the Open

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