‘LOMU’ – Remembering the Giant Who Changed Rugby Forever – Review
On the stage of world rugby, no player stood taller, moved faster, or commanded both the game and the crowd quite like Jonah Lomu.
A legendary figure in New Zealand sporting history, Lomu’s life was tragically cut short, leaving behind a career, playing style and promise that still make us wonder what might have been. Now, directors Gavin Fitzgerald and Vea Mafile’o deliver an intimate and deeply affecting portrait of the man behind the legend in LOMU; an intriguing, poignant and complex examination of an athlete, a son and a man.
It is an experience you will deeply feel.
An intimate and heartfelt character study about legendary All Black Jonah Lomu, tracing his Tongan upbringing, meteoric rise to fame, and the complicated personal and health battles he faced at the pinnacle of world rugby.
The Making of a Legend
No stranger to gripping documentary portraits of fascinating figures, Irish filmmaker Gavin Fitzgerald, whose previous work has explored subjects including Conor McGregor and Liam Gallagher, finds an utterly compelling subject in Lomu.
Driven by his own passion for rugby and memories of watching the sport’s first global superstar, Fitzgerald, alongside co-director Vea Mafile’o, sets out to understand the man beneath the phenomenon.
And what makes LOMU so compelling is the decision to wind the clock back.
Rather than beginning with the superstar who bulldozed his way through international defences, the filmmakers return to the origins of Jonah Lomu, exploring a complex and at times traumatic childhood spent between Tonga and New Zealand. His difficult relationship with his father and the profound love and connection he shared with his mother Hepi become essential pieces of the puzzle.
It is here that LOMU begins to reveal the person behind the sporting icon.
That early life eventually leads Lomu to the rugby pitch, where audiences witness his transformation into a gifted and award-winning player at Wesley College before his extraordinary rise to the All Blacks. At just 19 years and 45 days, Lomu became the youngest All Black Test player in history.
The filmmakers give considerable attention to this formative period, complemented by previously unseen home-video footage that offers an intimate window into Jonah’s early life and the experiences that helped shape the man he would become.
When Rugby Met Jonah Lomu
Lomu’s rise coincided almost perfectly with rugby’s transition into the professional era, and there could scarcely have been a more perfect player to become its first global superstar.
LOMU captures the sheer scale of his impact, particularly during the 1995 Rugby World Cup, when the 20-year-old winger announced himself to the world with a series of performances that remain etched into sporting history.
The image of Lomu charging through England’s Mike Catt became one of the defining moments of the tournament, and one of the most enduring images in rugby history.
But the documentary is just as interested in what happened away from the pitch.
As Lomu’s profile exploded, so too did the attention. Money, women, fame and a jet-setting lifestyle suddenly surrounded a young man who had become one of the most recognisable athletes on the planet. Rugby had never seen a star quite like him.
The Tragedy Behind the Greatness
Yet just as Lomu’s star was reaching extraordinary heights, tragedy began to close in.
His battle with kidney disease would severely impact his playing career, robbing him of years that could have seen him reach even greater heights. He would return for the 1999 Rugby World Cup, but the World Cup glory he so desperately wanted would continue to elude him.
Interviews with family, friends and acquaintances, alongside some of the biggest names from that era, including former All Black captain Sean Fitzpatrick and All Blacks coach John Hart, provide crucial context for this period of Lomu’s life.
And it is here that LOMU becomes increasingly heartbreaking.
Lomu was, in many ways, an unknowable figure. His personal life was complicated and often turbulent, while his deteriorating health placed an enormous burden on both his career and his life away from rugby.
The sadness of Jonah’s story is unavoidable, but Fitzgerald and Mafile’o never attempt to shy away from it.
Instead, they embrace it.
Because to remove the tragedy from Lomu’s story would ultimately be to diminish the truth of the man himself. This is not a documentary interested in simply celebrating the legend; it wants to understand the human being who lived beneath it.
Who Does Jonah Lomu Belong To?
What emerges is a remarkably complete portrait of Jonah Lomu — rugby player, son, cultural figure and man.
At its heart, LOMU asks audiences to consider the complicated question of Lomu’s legacy, his identity and, ultimately, who he belonged to.
Was he Tongan? Was he a New Zealander? Was he an All Black? Or did he belong to the millions of people around the world who watched him and were utterly captivated by what they saw?
There are no easy answers.
And that is precisely what makes LOMU so powerful.
Final Verdict: The Definitive Portrait of a Sporting Icon
Made with genuine love, sincerity and an obvious reverence for its subject, LOMU holds nothing back in its portrait of one of rugby’s most extraordinary figures. It celebrates the giant who changed the game, while never forgetting the vulnerable human being underneath the jersey.
Jonah Lomu may have left the rugby field decades ago, but his shadow remains enormous. LOMU is a fitting, moving and deeply human reminder of why.
Image: MadMan Films
