The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is one of the great events of the year. Also, the ideal spot for celebrating the importance of soccer. This is a unique opportunity to enjoy a demonstration of the skills of the best players, and a great time to celebrate football at the cinema.
With such a magnitude, the World Cup in Qatar reminds us of the importance of soccer. An experience that transcends the courts and becomes a lifestyle in its own right. An idea that the cinema has reflected in dozens of different ways and through all kinds of characters. From celebrating fans to exploring the phenomenon of a sport capable of bringing together extraordinary enthusiasm. Soccer in the movies proved to be as attractive as its version on the pitches.
We leave you five recommendations to enjoy the World Cup through the cinema. From the story of historical athletes, to the dreams of athletes who only want to score the great winning goal. A whole journey through an extraordinary setting, which currently unites the entire world in one way or another.
I want to be like Beckham
Jess (Parminder Nagra) wants to be a soccer player. He wants it more than anything else in the world, despite his very traditional family and that he must face all kinds of prejudices. But on the pitch and with the ball between their feet, every sacrifice seems to make sense. Much more, if he has as an example and objective to emulate his idol, the player David Beckham. A metaphor that goes beyond the aspiration of the unattainable — a theme that the film addresses with ingenuity.
This charming fable, a milestone in football in cinema, about self-improvement, will and of course, the love of football is an enthusiastic look at the sport. But at the same time, it is a reflection on the value of talent and the search for one’s own path, even through difficult terrain and increasingly difficult to assume.
The script is also a successful combination of family expectations and the journey to the destination, as a highly personal event. Everything, through the perception of football as a meeting place for bigger, more important and deeper ideals. Like any self-respecting story of transit and growth, I want to be like Beckham it also analyzes the perception of identity. The one that is transformed from a dream and the one that is built through effort. A whole ode to the ideal hope to enjoy in the midst of the great world event of king sport.
A lovely fun fact? Yes, the great idol of English football appears for a couple of minutes in front of the camera in a very brief and curious cameo for history.
looking for Eric
Eric Bishop (Steve Evets) is going through one of the worst moments of his life. His wife abandoned him and he must deal with raising his two stepchildren. As if that weren’t enough, he has the unpleasant feeling that he is about to lose everything he thought was valuable in his life. So much so that he even begins to consider whether it is worth continuing in the midst of such a disaster.
But Eric has a single moment of peace. One that goes beyond his experience and in particular, that is linked to something more elaborate, profound and sincere. Beyond all the troubles, pains and discomforts, football is the ideal space for consolation. For the character, the world stops as soon as the ball starts rolling and the field is filled with the big plays he is obsessed with. It is then when pain, suffering and hopelessness are transformed into a new form of deep joy.
The Ken Loach movie manages to turn all the enthusiasm of soccer into an insular place in the midst of everyday chaos. Much more, to build a metaphor for the power of sport as an element for the healing of emotional and spiritual wounds. The argument is a careful vision of collective phenomena as forms of connection with deeply significant private spaces. Little by little and always thanks to football, Eric manages to rediscover his place in the world and comfort his pain.
But beyond that, understanding that sport can also be as valid a form of comfort as any other. With all its emotional charge and its well-planned setting, the film is much more than a sentimental odyssey about the meaning of sport. Also, it is a symbol of the power of hope. All, of course, through the symbol of a ball that crosses a radiant and bustling field.
ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo has probably become one of the most important figures in football history. The documentary by Anthony Wonke not only analyzes the reason for this significance, off and on the field of play. Also, the way in which the player changed the history of football by force of talent. With a careful look at his career, the film analyzes his impact on a stratum as competitive as high-level players.
The feature film also uses the figure of Ronaldo as a way to explore the inner circle of the great soccer stars. Converted into idols of considerable renown, tThey are also symbols of a strange way of understanding celebrity.. Something that Wonke’s production carefully explores and manages to show from a completely new angle. It’s not just about Ronaldo, as a member of several of the best teams and taking on football from a privileged position. At the same time, the documentary is a vertiginous journey through all kinds of visions about sport as a reflection of the identity of fame and other topics of interest.
But in the end, Ronaldo is a tribute to football as a phenomenon. One that, moreover, is built around a figure that, at present, has a mythical stature. Between both things, it is a version about the power of sport in today’s world and also its enormous importance for the future.
hooligans
What would football be without its fans? This is the question that Lexi Alexander’s film asks and that answers several different strata. When Matt Buckner (Elijah Wood) is expelled from Harvard and must start his life over again, London seems like a good place to do it. But once there, he will discover that the streets of the city keep a curious secret. His total and sometimes chaotic devotion to football.
The film portrays, from an intelligent and well-posed perspective, the way in which the love for the beautiful game is part of English culture. He does it, moreover, without making moral judgments or, in the best of cases, without showing his hardest points. In fact, everything in the film is a celebration of football as an experience and also, as a lifestyle. Little by little, Matt begins to understand the intricate way football is intertwined with life in England. A point of view that will allow you not only to understand the importance of sport from a new perspective, but also its weight within British culture.
Between exciting games in which fans are the very spirit of the celebration of the sport’s odyssey, the film shines with good intentions. At the same time, in its capacity to show everything that sport can offer to the very culture of a country. A whole frantic journey through a deep idea and most of the time, fascinating, about football as a collective phenomenon.
Goool! The movie
Santiago Muñez (Kuno Becker) has a dream and it is to play soccer. It is a hope that accompanied him since he was a child and that, finally, it seems may come true. As a Mexican cook in Los Angeles, this is a journey that could lead to disappointment as well as triumph.
But for Santiago, taking the risk is inevitable, so he begins a long journey that will take him not only to fulfill the dream of his life. Also to celebrate a lifestyle you have dreamed of since childhood. Goal! The impossible Dream is a well-constructed exploration of the value of hope. Also, the construction of the version of good and evil, as a journey to deeper places on the human spirit. For the character, soccer is the possibility of changing his life completely. But also, to find a more genuine version of all his aspirations. Perhaps the most moving point of the movie.
Soccer bonus track on the screens
ted lasso
ted lasso (Jason Sudeikis) only knew American football when he was hired to coach AFC Richmond, in the English Premier League. But Ted accepted the challenge with every hope that sport was, after all, the same language. Which of course results in all kinds of wacky and heartwarming situations that made the Apple TV+ series an unprecedented phenomenon.
The story of the most endearing, generous and charismatic loser on television reached an unprecedented level of quality since its first season. But it was his second installment that showed that his success is more than just a chance phenomenon. One of the great comedies of the decade is a mischievous, bold and emotional look at the great issues of our time. But also, an inspiring version of the world of sport as a form of hope, celebration of will and sensitivity.
Of course, ted lasso knows that the secret to his success is his ability to reinvent himself. He has done it in each of the seasons and also, in the deep vision of the possibility of success in the midst of unforeseeable situations. The series is, in the end, a great tribute to the spirit of football as a way of understanding a type of collective solidarity of profound value. Perhaps, the secret of his success.