Swimming Upstream

Swimming Upstream is a 2003 Australian biographical drama film written by Tony Fingleton and directed by Russell Mulcahy. It stars Jesse Spencer, Geoffrey Rush, and Judy Davis. It shows the life of Fingleton (Spencer) from childhood to adulthood, and dealing with a topsy-turvy family. It is based on Fingleton's autobiography of the same name. Plot The film shows ten years in the life of Anthony Fingleton, from when he was a young boy in the mid-1950s, to the day of the men's 100m backstroke final at the 1964 Summer Olympics. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia, Tony was the second of five children of working-class parents Harold and Dora Fingleton. It was a dysfunctional family, since Harold, the child of an alcoholic mother who had witnessed his mother's degradation as a prostitute when a child, was violent and unable to show equal love to all his children, and favored those showing sporting prowess. He was physically and emotionally abusive, especially toward Tony and Dora. She tried to protect Tony from that abuse which only angered Harold more. The abuse was exacerbated by Harold's alcoholism, which in turn led to frequent difficulties with money as Harold, who worked at the docks only when ships were in port, was often off work, sometimes due to divisive labour unrest on the wharf, and strikes. Tony was on good terms with most of his siblings, especially "number 3", John. But each of the five children did whatever they needed to do as self-preservation measures against Harold's abuse, sometimes at the expense of harmony with the others. As a refuge, the four youngest felt comfortable in the local pool. It was only when he found out that both Tony and John were good swimmers that Harold began to pay Tony any attention, and became their trainer. But nothing Tony did was ever good enough, Harold spurring on anyone else but Tony, and especially John. Initially the two swam different strokes, freestyle and backstroke, but Harold secretly shifted John to compete directly against his brother in state finals. After losing, Tony responded by training on his own, eventually placing second at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, without his father's support - who had by this time become withdrawn and continued to drink.