FIFA’s Naptime Week Presents Cinema Day: Les Arbitres, Zidane’s Portrait, Salve Gerla & Stayin’ Alive In Jo’Burg.

By: chris | October 7th, 2009

slij Do you remember back in school – or perhaps some of you are living this as we speak – when a teach would roll in the television cart in order to show a quasi-relevant movie after s/he had been up the entire night previous drunkenly bemoaning the book they couldn’t get published instead of writing up a lesson plan? So you sat there doing the homework you’d blatantly ignored for other classes in a theatre marked by the stench of cheap brandy and failed expectations.

This is the international week equivalent. (In trailers, with “suggested” viewing options.)

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The first movie is Les Arbitres, a stunningly boring premise which may actually have been pulled off. The filmmakers followed around the referees during Euro 2008, ghosting their movements on and off the pitch. It’s a bit similar to Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait in watching the explicit movements of one player, rather than the typical focus of the ball.

While the premise may sound a bit boring, one could probably do worse in seeking out drama than the men of derision in a major international footballing tournament. In fact, world wars aside, I’m not quite sure one could do better – Howard Webb concurs.

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Speaking of, Zidane’s portrait is a bit old – it’s from back when he was an actual player – but still a very, very interesting watch. It, too, tracks the movements of one solitary figure, but this is a window into the mind of a genius. The off and on ball movements of one “90 minute” match against Villarreal in 2005.

It’s also a blatant copy of Fußball wie noch nie (Football As Never Before), a movie with the same intent but different form of genius, George Best.

The movie’s vision, while a genuinely mesmerizing picture, did not go off quite as hoped: Zizou was sent off in the 65th minute.

* – ‘Mesmerizing’ was chosen before viewing that particular trailer. You get the picture – section off a block of time before sitting down for this one.

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The next aren’t so much footballing movies as they are films which are making waves in the football world. One based on a true story, the other a documentary, they document the uprising of violence, crime and corruption in two of Brazil’s largest cities, Sao Paolo and Rio de Janiero. This, as you may have already guessed, has a bit to do with Brazil’s impending World Cup and their recent victory for the 2016 Olympic games.

Salve Geral is the story, centered around a fictional mother’s fight to get her murder-accused son out of jail, of the coordinated uprising in 2003 which saw Sao Paolo fall under control of criminals, with nearly 500 people dying in a city-wide bloodbath. Probably the more worrisome of the two, given the bullseye which will be traveling there in 5 years time.

The second, Dancing With The Devil, doesn’t seem to have an online trailer yet, but the description tells the story:

Rio de Janeiro. September, 2008. Three men stalk the gloomy back-alleys of the city’s notorious slums. Spiderman, a 28-year-old drug lord, embarks on a routine patrol through the shadowy streets of Coréia, the sprawling slum he controls. Inspector Leonardo Torres, a muscle-bound operative from Rio’s drug squad, inches through the alleys of another shantytown, shots ringing out around him. And Pastor Dione, an evangelical preacher intent on ending Rio’s drug conflict, trawls the slums for lost souls. With unprecedented access to some of Rio’s most wanted men, Dancing with the Devil in the City of God tells the story of Rio’s drug war through the eyes of three men locked into one of the bloodiest urban conflicts on earth.

It only made it to festivals this weekend, so you’ll have to wait a bit on this one.

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Stayin’ Alive In Jo’Burg is much like Dancing With The Devil in that it’s a documentary which details the trials and tribulations of violent life in a major city, but Holland Doc, the station which produces and airs many documentaries like this, went to SA with the explicit direction of investigating just how Jo’Burg could hold a World Cup.

So at least you know the soundtrack is good.

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Since this isn’t exactly a list from the most requested shelf of your local Hollywood blockbuster video provider, viewing may be somewhat difficult. As with any art, it’s advisable that you support the artist if possible; but when that’s not an option, the artist’s message being viewed is often more valuable than another method of return. So check the various torrent sites and you might get, ahem, lucky…