While I was making this portrait of Alejandro Sabella for Tom Violence’s “Definite Limits” I was thinking about this: What are the five best films about football?
If this question were asked to me today, I would have no doubts and I would draw up this ranking:
1) Al Bar dello Sport (1983)
2) L’allenatore nel pallone (1984)
3) Looking for Eric (2009)
4) Victory (1981)
5) Next Goal Wins (2023)
It won’t be easy to find an English language version of the first two but I invite you to watch them if you get the chance. They are about Italy and the Italians, as we were in the 80s.
Al Bar dello Sport is a comedy. It is the story of an Apulian emigrant in Torino who wins a billion in the football pools. The scene in which Lino, the protagonist of the movie makes thirteen in the Totocalcio is extraordinary and it has an enormous value.
What was decisive for Lino’s victory was Juventus’ 1-2 home defeat against Catania. How poetic!
You can watch it here:
Every Sunday if you weren’t at the stadium, you were glued to the radio listening to “Tutto il calcio minuto per minuto” to find out the results and the progress of the matches. What a thrill when they interrupted the other colleagues to announce that Inter had just scored. Sometimes I played the betting slip and at the end of every match, you could check the outcome. So I know what Lino felt. Making 13 was one of the Italians’ dreams and it was mine too even though I was a child. Naturally I have never made 13 and today I don’t bet on football or any other sport. There’s no more that thrill.
About the second, again with Lino Banfi, you can read an article from The Guardian by clicking on this link. The movie stars a lot of the protagonists of Italian football in the 80s (Nils Liedholm, Carlo Ancellotti, Zico, Roberto Pruzzo, Giancarlo De Sisti, Ciccio Graziani…). Once again how nostalgic for that football I am.
The third by Ken Loach features a great Eric Cantona among the protagonists. Is the actor or the player better? It’s difficult to choose.
Then there’s Pelé’s bicycle kick against the Nazis. How cool!
And finally the film with Michael Fassbender (one of my favorite actors) protagonist of an incredible story inspired by a true event.
What are your favorite movies about football?
Listen to Tom Violence “Definite Limits” here.
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