Football fiesta

Soccer may be the real thing but films on it are the next best, writes Ervell E. Menezes

Soccer is to Germany what cricket is to India. And if their national pastime is taking a walk in the forests, watching soccer is not far behind. In the light of these facts the Max Mueller Bhavan in Mumbai screened soccer films recently from from various countries like Sweden, Brazil and of course Germany.

"A Time to Make Friends" was their theme with games being played at twelve different cities—Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, Leipzig, Nuremberg, Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Kaiserslautern, Cologne, Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen. So it is sure to boost tourism with soccer buffs making it to Germany to watch their favourite sport.

The films were a mixed bag varying from the exciting to the ordinary. After all, soccer is the real thing and films on it can only be the next best thing. Sonke Wortmann’s The Miracle of Bern (Germany) is a delightful film that combines West Germany’s winning of the World Cup with the lives of a family whose dad has just returned from the war and finds it hard to adjust to the changed situation.

After losing 3-8 to Hungary in the earlier rounds, they beat them in the finals 3-2, and that too after being two goals down. Hungary boasted of giants like Frenec Puskas. Young Mathias is a soccer-crazy young lad who adores the ground on which his hero Essen player Helmut Rhan walks. Rhan eventually plays for the national side and his ball boy makes it to the stadium. It is believed that this victory gave Germany new meaning after the defeat in World War II. But equally touching is the family drama and how the children resent his old methods. In fact the elder son runs away from home. But the old patriarch is able to see the light and make the necessary shifts that culminate in taking Mathias to the final.

Bo Widerberg’s Fimpen, The Kid (Sweden) flatters only to deceive as it records the meteoric rise of six-year-old Johan Bergman aka Fimpen to make it to the national team. But after the initial novelty of his outwitting his bigger opponents, the film tends to drift. Being a boy wonder means that Fimpen is missing out on things a normal child would have, like for example education. He cannot sign autographs. But it ends rather abruptly, unable to make a clear statement, which is indeed sad.

Urgo Giogetti’s Baleiros (Brazil) is about former Brazilian stars (contemporaries of the legendary Pele) who meet at a restaurant to recall old times, anecdotes and incidents, which have been dear to their hearts. Among them is a referee too. But over drinks it gets sentimental and because they live in the past they resent old age and would like to be remembered in their prime. "I’ve been a player for 20 years and a coach for 25 years but in my dreams I’m always a player," says one showing the importance he attaches to playing. It is a bittersweet story, touching but it doesn’t break new ground.

Norbet Baumgarten’s Liberated Zone (Germany) is even worse as it captures the escapades of Ade Banjo in his new club. Set in a soccer-crazy fictitious town everything is centred on the club’s progress in the tournament.

Otto Resser is the president of the club and a building contractor. The higher-ups, that is the president, and the mayor, among others, manipulate things.

But with all that they are not able to win the cup. Skeletons pop out of cupboards and cuckolds are the order of the day.

The racist angle (not new to Germany) comes up rather late but the story soon turns into a musical beds game where credibiliy is the biggest casualty. Soccer is next. But if these four films are any indication, they don’t really whet one’s appetite for the game.

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