With the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa already in it’s knockout stage with the final 16 teams, I present to you a list of what we consider the top sixteen football movies.
After a grueling & extensive search of three weeks & after watching countless movies from all corners of the globe, I think I have done justice to this list. Considering the number of movies I watched I do feel bad about leaving out quite a few but the top sixteen was always the target,
So in descending order here they are;
16. The Game of Their Lives (2005):
The movie tells the true story of what is called in Football history as the ‘Miracle on Grass’. In the 1950 World Cup held in Brazil, a rag-tag U.S. team beat the top ranked English team 1-0. Football which is known as soccer in the U.S. had barely been around in an organized professional national manner & how a multicultural team was formed & their journey to the victory forms the crux of the story.
The movie is a set very much in a classical underdog story mould & has some decently shot moments in the matches. The whole patriotism angle & America is melting pot of cultures message is put across a little too heavy-handedly by the movie at times. It stars Gerald Butler, Wes Bentley, Bush singer Gavin Rossdale, John Rhys-Davies & in a cameo appearance Patrick Stewart. Director David Anspaugh has made two great sports movies before this one, Hoosiers (1986) & Rudy (1993), though he tries very hard, this movie doesn’t reach the same heights as those two.
15. Der Wunder Von Bern / The Miracle of Bern (2003):
Another recreation of a true story from the annals of Football history is the German movie, ‘Der Wunder Von Bern’ or ‘The Miracle of Bern’. The main story revolves around a young eleven year old boy whose father returns after spending time in a Russian prison during & after World War II. The father cannot adjust to his new life easily & cracks begin to appear in the family which seemed fine till now. The boy’s only solace lies in his two pet rabbits & a local football player who’s selected for the national team. Thus the German national team’s campaign in the 1954 Switzerland World Cup & the boy’s attempts to connect with his father get linked via their love for the game.
The movie has very strong emotional quotient, though it is highly localized & many without knowledge of the game during that era might have trouble relating to some of the facts the movie takes for granted such as why the Hungarian team is most feared football team in Europe in 1954 or how strong or weak exactly is the German team for us to place it in the underdog class firmly. The final game is pretty well shot & choreographed, though oddly in spite of the movie having numerous matches, the final is the only one we actually get to see.
Perhaps one of the most popular Football movies ever made is John Huston’s ‘Escape to Victory’. It was a remake of the 1961 Hungarian movie, ‘Two Half Times in Hell’, whose plot is modified to create an out & out crowd pleaser much in the league of the 50s & 60s World War II movies. The story is about a match that is to be played between a German national team & a team of allied prisoners of war during World War II in the Colombes stadium in Paris. The allied team comprises of players from various nationalities & their American Goalkeeper doesn’t just have the game on his mind but to attempt a daring escape by the team during the match.
The movie features two excellent acting turns by Michael Caine (the Allied team captain & coach) & Max Von Sydow (the ex-German footballer turned Nazi officer who’s in charge of organizing the match). Their simple conversations reflect the two characters love for the game & disdain for the war which allows them to be away from the best of the sport. Sylvester Stallone is irritating & loud as the selfish American loner whose only reason for joining the team is to orchestrate his own escape. One of the main reasons for the movie’s fame are the various real-life international footballers who played characters on the Allied team. Pele (Brazil), Bobby Moore (England), John Wark (England), Oswaldo Ardiles (Argentina) & many others were part of the movie & helped choreograph the final match & train the actors to play like professionals. Though I have to say that their football skills, were miles ahead of their acting skills, even if they were in the twilight of their professional careers.
Unfortunately inspite of the involvement of such high profile names with the project, the movie doesn’t quite live upto the expectations. The football match looks just about decent though haphazardly shot at times & except for a glorious slow-motion Pele bicycle-kick doesn’t have any real moments of excitement. The whole half-baked escape plot & forced romantic interest to Sylvester Stallone reeks of pandering in to a high profile star.
‘Mean Machine’ produced by director/producer Matthew Vaughn (Stardust, Kick-Ass, Snatch) is a British remake of the 1974 American film ‘The Longest Yard’ starring Burt Reynolds. An ex-captain of England, Danny Meehan (Vinnie Jones), tainted by allegations of match-fixing, is sent to prison for assaulting two police officers. The warden there organizes a match between the convicts & the prison guards & puts Danny in charge of forming the convicts’ team. How Danny goes about it & what the match means to the convicts is the usual underdog tale slate but it’s told in the then new-found ‘Snatch’ & ‘Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels’ ‘Brit-gangster’ rawness.
The movie’s final match does have a certain kinetic energy bout it even if most of the story that came before it is more or less predictable. The humor in places works fantastically, especially Jason Statham as the psychotic goalkeeper called ‘The Monk’. The fact that Vinnie Jones was a professional footballer also helps the proceedings & makes his game-time movements more realistic.
ESPN presents ‘Kicking It’, a documentary about the ‘Homeless Football World Cup’ held in South Africa in 2006. I had never heard about such a tournament before I came across the movie & I couldn’t believe it that such a tournament is actually held on a global scale every year with as many as 48 teams participating comprised entirely of homeless people.
The movie follows various homeless people from countries like Ireland, Kenya, U.S.A., Spain, Russia, Afghanistan & a few others. By picking individual cases & covering their personal stories before the world cup it allows the audience to build a connection. Though it does get heavy-handed at times, the movie throws up some wonderful perspectives as to what the tournament means to different teams & people. For some it provides a chance at breaking out of their low-income group, others a chance to gain the self-confidence to quite alcohol & drugs, others to simply travel & be in the spotlight for a few days before they are forgotten by the world again.
In parts the movie is heart-breaking & poignant while a few times in between it feels like a heavy-handed tear-jerker. Even in all their personal struggles the movie finds a beautiful little moment when an Afghani player & a Paraguayan girl fall in love even though neither understands what the other is saying without the help of an interpreter. The football matches are all real-life matches played on a street-football pitch with four players on each side.
The movie is a statement on the impact of the game that can bring people from around the world together & can become a means to bring forth their problems & also sometimes act as a means to change their lives & aspire for something better.
The Mexican movie ‘Rudo y Cursi’ is produced by Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo Del Toro & Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu uses the game of soccer to talk about the destructive commercial effects of a rising economy like Mexico can have on personal relationships.
Tato (Gael Garcia Bernal) & Beto (Diego Luna) are brothers living in a village with big city dreams in their eyes. By sheer co-incidence Tato gets spotted by a talent scout & is selected to play for a professional league division one team. Beto racked by pangs of jealousy by his brother’s success leaves for the city but gets mixed up with the wrong people putting him such a mess that would surely lead to losing everything the brothers have earned, fame, money & the chance to play professional football.
The movie mixes razor-sharp humor with an intelligent script that allows the game of Football (something the brothers play well but not necessarily love to do) to define the corruption of the human soul by greed & excess, which allows a freefall into the abyss of selfishness & self-destruction.
Ken Loach’s almost philosophical movie ‘Looking for Eric’ brings forth in a different outlook, a global phenomenon, hero worship. Eric Bishop is an almost fanatical fan of Manchester United & his favorite player has always been Eric Cantona. After a string of disappointments in his life, Eric Bishop isn’t exactly the most confident of people or the most proactive to do something in order to turn his life around. All he does is moan about it in uncontrollable bursts of anger which often those around him have to bear. However after a meditation class, Eric finds himself face to face with his hero, Eric Cantona. Cantona becomes Eric’s imaginary mentor, almost imparting Yoda like advice to help him come out of his shell.
The movie beautifully utilizes the love for the sport & a sportsperson to turn into catalysts & driving forces behind bringing about personal change in oneself. The acting is top class & Cantona proves to be hilarious. The message about friendship, brotherhood & self-belief is a very important one imparted by Cantona to Eric & most importantly he imparts all that he’s learnt from playing the game itself.
I wonder if people realize that Football being the global sport there are over 200 ranked FIFA teams. Most will only bother about the top ranked or the ones who make it to the World Cup Finals every four years but what about the teams at the bottom of the table? The documentary feature ‘The Other Final’ tells the story of a remarkable football match played between the two lowest ranked teams (then in 2002), Bhutan & Monsterrat, on the morning of the final of the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final between Brazil & Germany.
Bhutan most people might have heard of but Monsterrat is a small Caribbean island with a semi active volcano that spews ash from time to time disrupting life on the island. Most of you might have heard the song ‘Feeling Hot Hot Hot’? It’s by an artist, Arrow, who lives in Monsterrat & made the song as an ode to the Volcano.
Both the featured countries do not have fledging economies & it reflects in their sport. Most of the players have other jobs & the facilities like training grounds are not up to the mark but the players love the game & the ability to represent their country gives them an immense sense of pride & joy. The feeling of a global brotherhood & discovering of other cultures by simply being a part of the sport is well conveyed by the movie. Some of the scenes which connect people & places are impressively done with a travelling ball that seems to traverse all sorts of terrain.
The movie also takes a sly dig at Nike & Addidas about their corporate sponsorship stand when the two giants “committed” to help football develop around the world, refuse to help out this match. There is a beautiful moment in the post match ceremony when the cup is given to the victor, which I won’t ruin for you, but do watch it if you get the opportunity. Also do listen to the very amusing commentary during the match.
‘Offside’ is a banned Iranian movie by well known director Jafar Panahi. The movie beautifully uses football & specifically the term offside as a metaphor for the condition of women in Iran. Women are banned from attending any Football matches in a stadium in Iran because the religious council believes they’d be introduced to foul language & crude men.
The movie brings together many teenage girls who try unsuccessfully to enter a stadium but get caught & are put in a holding area from where they can’t even watch an important game between Iran & Bahrain which will decide Iran’s fate for the World Cup Finals. Each of the young women has a different sort of personality that defines their means of sneaking into the stadium but each also share a love for the game & possess a deeply rebellious streak. Their guards slowly become their friends & represent a more male oriented side to the situation in Iran plus also showcasing the divide between rural & urban Iran. The movie inspite of being a social critique on Iran is surprisingly patriotic.
While a majority of the movie takes place in a stadium, other than a few shots on the television & a few long panning shots most of the on-field action remains unseen. The performances by mostly, non-actors (Panahi’s usual style), is competent. The fate of the girls in face of the restrictions by the religious council provides much suspense throughout. The movie is insightful, involving, heart-breaking & yet humorous at times.
I doubt I’d ever find a crazier movie about football than Stephen Chow’s masterpiece, ‘Shaolin Soccer’. An ex-martial arts expert & a retired football player combine their skills to form a football team that uses kung-fu to excel at the sport. The movie is cheesy as hell but more than that it’s so crazy & innovative that it’s near unlikely that you’d not enjoy it.
Players fly high into air to take kicks, balls turns into fireballs, balls are hit with such force that they cause ripples on the ground, anything you might have thought in your wildest dreams about doing with a football (no double entrée here) this movie has it all. Plus it has truckloads of humor & heart to go along with it. This is the kind of movie which has a cigar chomping, over-dressed villain wearing sunglasses with a team called “Evil Team” & all the players on the good guy’s team are either poor or in a sorry state; its underdog message is as subtle as a sledgehammer.
Having said that, since the effects weren’t that polished, lately the movie has started to look old, but it’s still one hell of a thrill ride.
‘Goal! The Dream Begins’ is the first & only worthy movie from a trilogy of movies, officially sponsored by FIFA. Since the makers had the blessings of FIFA they were able to rope in a large number of high-profile international players & teams for the movie.
The plot is strictly old-school rags-to-riches tale. A poor illegal immigrant in the U.S. Santiago receives an offer to come & try out for Newcastle United in England. Despite much opposition from his father he goes ahead & after a few attempts gets picked for the squad.
The movie puts plenty of obstacles in Santiago’s path, not the least of being an illegal immigrant. But the movie also makes his struggle & desire to succeed seem extremely sincere thus elevating it much above most similar themed movies. The movie also bears a highly polished look & features some very good actors in supporting roles. The football matches are pretty well shot & choreographed. Songs by ‘Oasis’ also help the movie attain it’s feel-good status.
If a football fairytale is what you want, then ‘Goal! The Dream Begins’ is just the thing you should watch.
Another Football movie that became very popular upon it’s release & in the years to follow & with it launching the careers of Keira Knightley & Jonathan Rhys-Meyers into Hollywood. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of Parminder Nagra who’s career didn’t take off in the same manner inspite of being the girl who could bend it like Beckham.
Director Gurinder Chadha constructs a delightfully spunky tale with a strong flavor of the Indian community in England. An Indian girl overcomes cultural taboo to do what she loves, play football for a girl’s team. Along the way there is a love triangle & family restrictions & not to forget her hero, David Beckham; very typical fare but seasoned in new herbs & spices, the movie feel like a breath of fresh air.
The at times the spontaneity of the wonderful conversation that jumps between Punjabi & English creates an impact that something straightforward would have lacked. Interestingly this movie contains very well shot, lively scenes of the on-field action. The humor remains firmly very tongue in cheek & some lines are an absolute doozy. Thankfully the message about equality, dreams & all isn’t ham-fisted & put across not in a very dramatic fashion.
Have you ever loved something, anything so much that nothing in your life would feel complete without it? It could be anything, a person, an object, some food, your morning tea or coffee, you favorite sports team maybe? That’s what rules Paul’s (Colin Firth) life, an almost unhealthy obsession with the ‘Arsenal’ football team & a burning desire to see them crowned champions. Ever since he was a teenager when his estranged father took him for a game to the stadium, everything changed. The entire experience made him a fanatic of the religion of football, & in particular Arsenal. So since that day for the next 21 years he’s never missed a game & even when he falls in love with a fellow teacher, she’s always put aside for Arsenal.
I loved the way Paul as a character is built & shown. For those passionate about sports we have seen him & his ilk around us or even in us from time to time. An overbearing love waiting desperately for the fruits of labor from something we adore to the hilt. If someone were to say ‘Its only a game’ after a particularly agonizing loss, you could literally knock their heads in. I know it’s unhealthy, but it’s a guy thing & only those who have that passion can understand it. Plus how Paul over the course of the movie learns how to deal with his obsession once in a relationship is remarkably realistically handled. All of this is something Nick Hornby’s semi-autobiographical writing perfectly captures in the book & in the movie too.
The mid-90s soft-rock/pop score is in abundance like in any other Hornby written movie. Watch out for Mark Strong in a hilarious role as Paul’s equally football crazy best friend. A must watch for any football fan; maybe any sports fan.
‘Phörpa – The Cup’ is a light-hearted comedy/drama about the attempts of a group of young monks in a Tibetan monastery to watch the 1998 Football World Cup. They seek the old abbot’s permission to watch the games. Even after he’s given it, they face a problem for arranging a television & a satellite dish to catch the game. The zeal & spirit displayed by the monks to watch the World Cup final between Brazil & France at any given cost is sure to put a smile on you face.
The movie is directed by Khyentse Norbu, a Tibetan Lama who had assisted Bernardo Bertolucci on ‘Little Buddha’ before. Like in life, it is the small things that make thing movie so wonderful. The prevalent humor throughout comes at the cost of the simplistic way of life of the monks, never mocking just amusing observations. Like the time the high priest tries to explain to the abbot what the game of Football is, or the loudmouth excitement with which the main kid monks keeps on talking about various teams. A poignant point is made about the monks supporting France in the final, since France supports the Tibetan demand for freedom.
The movie was shot in India & if you pay attention you’d hear plenty of Hindi songs throughout. There are also some interesting philosophical observations towards the end of the movie much based upon Buddhist ideology. The movie is sure to make your heart glow.
Ambition can drive a man to greatness, but it can also bring his downfall if he doesn’t know where to draw the line or how much is enough for him. The same could be said of the mercurial, brilliant coach Brian Clough (Michael Sheen).
The movie jumps between two time frames; the year 1974, when Brian Clough is appointed as manager of Leeds United he’s at the receiving end of quite a bit of hostility from the local press, fans & the players. The reason lies in the past, in the year 1968, when during a F.A. Cup match between Leeds United (top of the first division & coached by English legend Don Revie) & Derby County (bottom of the third division & coached by Brian Clough & Peter Taylor). Revie absent-mindedly forgets to shake Clough’s hand inspite of Clough having made all needed arrangements for a high-profile visiting team. Clough takes offense & vows to not just beat Revie’s team but also top everything he’s ever done. This burning desire for revenge drives Clough & Derby County to the top of the first division table within two years but Clough wants the world & manages to rub everyone around him the wrong way.
The movie is brilliant character study & the manner in which Football becomes more than just a game for someone like Clough is showcased in a detailed fashion to make you surely hate & love Clough in equal measure. The recreation of the stadiums, the footballs, the local counties & townships all according to era is perfectly done. The game is a great leveler which can only be won as a team effort & this is something that Clough is reminded of often but doesn’t exactly heed that advice. Michael Sheen is absolutely bewitching as Clough, but is ably supported by Timothy Spall, Jim Broadbent & Colm Meany.
The true story bewilders you with the results achieved by a man like Clough, taking a Derby County to the top of the first division from the bottom of the third, picking up an unknown Nottingham Forest team post his Leeds United days & making them win the European Cup twice in a row. The movie befittingly ends with saying, “the best manager that the English national side never had."
1. Két félidő a pokolban / Two Half Times in Hell (1961):
The Hungarian movie ‘Két félidő a pokolban / Two Half Times in Hell’ by renowned director Zoltan Fabri is simply the finest football movie ever made, be it the themes it represents using the game or the manner in which the final match it done. For a movie made in 1961, nothing today can match up to the mastery with which the entire movie is brought together. It’s own remake by John Huston in 1981 ‘Escape to Victory’ couldn’t touch it with a ten-foot pole.
During World War II in German occupied Hungary, a labor camp made of Hungarian nationals is asked to form a football team & play against a German army team to commemorate Hitler’s birthday. The Hungarian team is led by former star footballer Onodi II (Sinkovits Imre) who’s affectionately nicknamed Dio. Dio regards the game as sacred & the only way he’d play the match is if he & his players are given proper equipment & extra rations which causes quite a lot of friction between the non-players & some other prisoners in the camp. The players are glad that they are getting the extra ration & do not have to work either till the match takes place. Some even would like to attempt an escape but Dio, suddenly reunited with Football, which he loves more than anything else in this world, would only want to play the game & win it.
The story is supposedly based on the true story of the Ukrainian football club ‘Dynamo Kyiv’ whose players defeated a German army team while the Nazis had occupied Ukariane in World War II & further rumors say that the team was shot dead after their victory.
The climatic encounter between the two teams is a nail-biter assured to have you on the edge of your seat. The best part about the movie is that unlike most other football movies, the director chooses not to shoot the match like a live match but rather play around with different camera angles only possible in a movie; this also helps keep the camera steady while providing us with a more coherent view of the happenings on the field.
In all the movies I’ve seen, rarely have I come across someone as naturally charismatic as Sinkovits Imre who plays Dio. In a scene towards the end while everyone lies on the ground to avoid detection by a group of Russian bombers flying overhead, Dio’s camp supervisor begs of him to miss a penalty so that the Germans do not get enraged & so does a teammate in hope that their lives would be spared but all Dio does is give a wicked one sided grin, looking straight ahead & you know he’s not going to listen to anyone or even to reason.
The movie maintains a downbeat & somber tone that begs to be lifted by a successful match where you want to see the Hungarians pulverize the Germans & when Dio does start scoring you’d surely be cheering. The movie is a natural crowd-pleaser that would stay with you long after you are done watching it.
Unfortunately there isn’t a proper trailer for the movie, so you’d have to with a small clip from it. Try & get your hands on the DVD if you can.
A list of 16 awesome football movies.
16. The Game of Their Lives (2005):
15. Der Wunder Von Bern / The Miracle of Bern (2003):
13. Mean Machine (2001):
12. Kicking It (2008): 
11. Rudo y Cursi / Rude & Tacky (2008):
10. Looking for Eric (2009):
9. The Other Final (2003):
8. Offside (2006):
7. Shaolin Soccer (2001):
6. Goal! The Dream Begins (2005):
5. Bend it Like Beckham (2002):
4. Fever Pitch (1997):
3. Phörpa – The Cup (1999):
2. The Damned United (2009):
1. Két félidő a pokolban / Two Half Times in Hell (1961):
In all the movies I’ve seen, rarely have I come across someone as naturally charismatic as Sinkovits Imre who plays Dio. In a scene towards the end while everyone lies on the ground to avoid detection by a group of Russian bombers flying overhead, Dio’s camp supervisor begs of him to miss a penalty so that the Germans do not get enraged & so does a teammate in hope that their lives would be spared but all Dio does is give a wicked one sided grin, looking straight ahead & you know he’s not going to listen to anyone or even to reason. 
