On the occasion of Spain’s debut at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, we will combine this sport with the topic that concerns us here: cinema. We will follow in our style the path followed by the Spanish team, which will face different countries during the competition. The way to merge both subjects, football and cinema, is to recommend a film from Spain and another from its rival countries, but for the challenge and fusion to be greater, all films must be related to football., regardless of the background behind it. To qualify for the round of 16, Spain must pass Group E in the group stage, made up of Costa Rica, Germany and Japan, as well as our country.
These four films go far beyond the sport itself, they are one way to prove it football can also be cinematographic and behind every activity, sporting or not, you can explore essential themes of life. In these stories, football is used as a means to explore important issues in our society such as friendship, death, family, personal values, social inequalities and injustices or life problems.
Four football movies not to be missed
1 Germany: ‘United for a dream’ (2011)
The Spanish-German actor Daniel Brühl plays a young teacher, Konrad Koch, who teaches English in a strict old German school of the late 19th century. The director of the center is a reformer who has hired the professor to modernize the institution, but Koch quickly realizes the need for further reforms. Originally, soccer was a fun way to teach his students English, but Koch sees that the practice has great social strength, something he wants to take advantage of. When they play football, the students forget the social differences, move away from the harsh educational discipline of the time and rediscover a great common passion, but their fathers and mothers will not like this sudden change of mentality, so they will try to prevent their children from from playing soccer. ‘United for a dream’ shows us football as a social tool capable of advancing society through the new generations, the development of values in children and the relationship between parents and children. Koch learns of all this, so he stops considering football as a simple sport and fights to keep this activity against those who oppose students who can play and, consequently, grow as people.
United for a dream in eCartelera
Two Spain: ‘Football Days’ (2003)
We continue with the representative of our country, “Días de fútbol”, perhaps the most mythical film about this sport in Spain. He was nominated for five Goya Awards in 2003, of which he won for Best New Actor for his portrayal of Fernando Tejero. “Football Days” brings together a group of friends where almost everyone is going through a bad time in their lives. Jorge (Alberto San Juan) is depressed by his job, moreover, his girlfriend left him when she asked him to marry him, Ramón (Roberto Álamo) is upset both by the baldness he suffers from and by the crazy ideas of his wife, Gonzalo (Secun de la Rosa) studies law and looks for a girlfriend, but neither goal is on the right track, Carlos (Pere Ponce) dreams of becoming a great actor, but the only thing he has achieved is a secondary role in various commercials on teleshopping and Miguel (Luis Bermejo) is an unhappy policeman, his wish is to be a singer-songwriter, a frustrated dream that his wife doesn’t like. The only one who is happy with what he has is Antonio (Ernesto Alterio), which is not very difficult given that he has just been released from prison. The friends, tired of their sad situation, believe they need a big change in their lives and see football as the tool to do it., so they have the wonderful idea of putting together the 7-a-side football team from when they were young. Disguised in a comedic tone and the team’s desire to be the best on the block, the storyline of ‘Football Days’ reflects the importance of lifelong friendship, through thick and thin.
Football days at eCartelera
3 Costa Rica: ‘In Search of Marcos Ramirez’ (2017)
This Costa Rican film tells the story of Marcos Ramírez, a misfit teenager who, after the death of his mother, will have to face his past while trying to take control of his future. Football will play a key role in this story of self-improvement and research in which Marcos will have to face different problems, such as living for the first time with his grandfather with whom he doesn’t have a good relationship, the bullying he suffers, the loss of his loved ones and the doubts that adolescence brings with it. Along the way and through football, Marcos will meet his new family, discover ways to deal with his issues, and get to know himself better than ever, all while pursuing his dream of becoming a professional footballer.
4 Japan: ‘Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun’ (2017)
Here we cheat a bit by recommending a series, but it’s nothing serious because it only has 12 episodes of half an hour each. Japan is characterized by many things, one of them is for being one of the countries with the largest anime culture in the world, so the recommendation had to be a project in this area. We could have gone slow and recommended ‘Oliver and Benji’ or ‘Inazuma Eleven’, two essential anime for football lovers, but when it comes to ‘Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun’ we give exposure to a much more unknown. This anime has a great deal of humor and many surreal situations thanks to its peculiar protagonist, Aoyama kun, a great soccer player who is also the biggest obsessed with cleaning in the history of soccer. He is so obsessed with keeping himself and his surroundings clean and rejects germs such that his main way of playing football is to avoid any kind of contact which is rare with the physicality of football. He manages to get away with this tactic, given that his level as a player is very high, but the fact remains that he doesn’t experience the most particular situations during matches, both with rivals and with teammates. Anyone who is an anime lover and wants to laugh more than a surreal moment will definitely enjoy watching ‘Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun’.
The World Cup in Qatar will go down in history as one of the most controversial ever organized due to the decision to hold the competition in a country where human rights are punished. Qatari misogyny and homophobia taint what should be a normal sporting event. A number of rules and restrictions have been placed on anyone visiting Qatar during the World Cup, for example anyone carrying an LGBTQ+ flag or displaying their non-heterosexual orientation in public will be punished with 5 years in prison. Even heterosexual couples who want to show their affection in public will not be able to do so freely, displays of affection are highly frowned upon, including handshakes. In addition, both economic and criminal fines are foreseen for violating dress codes that affect women to a greater extent, for consuming more alcohol than authorized or for posting photos on social networks without prior authorization, among many other restrictions .
According to The Guardian, As of February 2021, more than 6,500 workers had already died organizing the event due to poor working conditions. A year and a half later, the new figure hasn’t come to light, but it must certainly be terrifying. The sum of all the above makes many people refuse to watch this World Cup and have decided to boycott the sporting event, so if you are one of them, these movies are a way to enjoy football in a different way than the conventional one.
Source: E Cartelera
Bernice Bonaparte is an author and entertainment journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a passion for pop culture and a talent for staying up-to-date on the latest entertainment news, Bernice has become a trusted source for information on the entertainment industry.
