Yet, it’s so much more than just a story about four friends forming an unlikely team to rewrite history in style. On the surface, this familiar underdog tale gives the documentary get-go to maintain its entertainment value, offering audiences enough formula to invest in the characters, get behind the team and cheer them over the finish line.
#BLIND AMBITION FREE#
Yet, this crown seems to have since been bestowed upon South Africa and its reputation for being a free country where you can still make things happen, a place of unlimited potential and entrepreneurship.īlind Ambition’s similarities with Cool Runnings predestine its narrative and provide a framework for the story as momentum gathers in the build up to the big contest. Ironically, Zimbabwe’s abundant resources once made it the bread basket of Africa. South Africa’s complex history of segregation and xenophobia presents many challenges for people looking to make a fresh start but these setbacks seem manageable and even surmountable within the big picture. It’s a joy to see patriotic countrymen band together in order to proudly represent their birth country, even when they find themselves displaced and pursuing another version of the American Dream. The sheer presence of Joseph and his team dismantles some of the longstanding misconceptions associated with wine and the echoes of Cool Runnings make the documentary just as accessible in terms of entertainment. Serving as a wonderful contrast for a “sport” traditionally dominated by white people, Zimbabwe’s national team make history by breaking the unofficial colour barrier and dam wall when it comes to wine appreciation. Directed, produced and co-written by Robert Coe and Warwick Ross, the Cool Runnings comparison is a useful foothold that mostly works in Blind Ambition’s favour.īattling an ongoing stigma, fine wines and wine drinking is still seen as an exclusive product and niche experience. Instead of the Winter Olympics, bobsleighing and Jamaicans, we have the World Blind Wine Tasting Championships, wine tasting and Zimbabweans.Īrmed with an uplifting story, charming characters and an unlikely dream team, Blind Ambition seems destined to become the backbone or inspiration for its own movie.
It’s a bit unusual to talk about the film as a sports documentary but this seems like a natural progression based on the underdog tale’s clear parallels with the true story that inspired Cool Runnings. Wine tasting may seem more like an art but blind wine tasting takes it back into the sporting arena as teams from across the world compete at an international wine tasting competition in France. While awarding the Grand Prix du Cracheur d’Or at the Salon des Vignerons Indépendants in Paris makes wine spitting an actual sporting endeavour, it still seems like a bit of a reach. Swirling, sniffing, sipping and spitting doesn’t sound all that sporting, unless you move the spit bucket further and further away. Typically wine tasting occurs when someone wants to find out if they like a wine or in order to figure out an ideal food for wine pairing purposes.
This is Joseph Dhafana, Marlvin Gwese, Tinashe Nyamudoka and Pardon Taguzu’s tale of triumph, conquering hardships in their personal lives to summon their God-given talents and seize the opportunity to see Zimbabwe’s flag flying high somewhere in Burgundy, France.
Blind Ambition is a stirring and entertaining documentary about four sommeliers who combine their forces to form Zimbabwe’s first national wine-tasting team.