From brother, a movie on Hansie’s struggle to forgive himself

“Yes, we hope that Faith Like Potatoes will be shown in India, as well. We are currently looking for a good Indian distributor,” Frans, based in Cape Town, told wrote The Indian Express in an e-mail.

“We are currently developing a film about Hansie as well and making good progress. The one aspect that comes out strongly in this movie is the fact that Hansie really struggled to forgive himself for the bad choices he made in getting involved with the bookmakers. He strived so hard to build a strong cricket side and a new South Africa, that he found it hard to forgive himself after being banned for life from cricket (after the match-fixing scandal of 2000).

But in the end, he did manage to rebuild his life and the movie will focus on this aspect as well,” writes Frans.

Hansie died in a plane crash four years ago at the age of 32, his wife Bertha is remarried now, and his younger sister Hester is married to Gordon Parsons, a cricket coach based in Johannesburg.

Frans is the head of Global Creative Studios, a Cape Town-based production company. And Faith Like Potatoes is their second major movie venture after The Choice, which tells the story of a convict who blew the whistle on corruption in jails.

Faith Like Potatoes is the story of “Angus Buchan, a Zambian farmer of Scottish heritage, who leaves his farm in the midst of political unrest and racially charged land reclaims and travels south with his family to start a better life in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa”.

“With nothing more than a caravan on a patch of land, and help from his foreman, the Buchan family struggle to settle in a new country. Faced with ever mounting challenges, hardships and personal turmoil, Angus quickly spirals into a life consumed by anger, fear and destruction. Based on the true story by Angus Buchan, the movie weaves together the moving life journey of a man who grows his faith, like his potatoes, unseen until the harvest.”

Talking of Hansie’s shadow, Frans writes, “Our movies are all inspirational stories of people who aspired to make a difference. I wouldn’t say that Hansie influenced my film career, but in growing up together, we mutually influenced each other.”

Faith Like Potatoes is based on the book of the same name by Buchan, and the film on Hansie will draw from the 2005 bestselling biography titled The Hansie Cronje Story: An Authorised Biography.

Frans’ tribute to Hansie has already been given a working title: The Hansie Cronje Movie.