It is a fact that everyone in the world has a grand event that he or she anticipates once a year. By annual “grand event” I am not referring to winter or patriotic holidays, but instead the one time out of the year when one sits in front of the television in awe and appreciation. This is an event that is generally different from country to country. Some hold Super Bowl Sunday dearly, while others are glued to their sets for the final stretch of the World Series. I, myself, don a tuxedo on my sofa for the Academy Awards. Yes, almost everyone has a certain ceremony or tournament that gets them excited, but there is one event that teaches the world to absorb the media in perfect harmony like the subjects of a Coca-Cola commercial. That event is the World Cup final. It is a sporting event that gathers soccer (or football) fans and non-fans together to root for their own countries and the countries of others. While most are aware that major countries such as the United States, Brazil, and England have a wide-eyed interest in the sporting phenomenon that occurs every 4 years, there are other parts of the world ready to cheer with soccer balls in hand. The places on Earth where we would least expect diehard sporting fans is precisely what The Great Match is all about.
The Great Match (La Gran Final) revolves around the World Cup Final match between Germany and Brazil in 2002. Rather than showing the reactions of soccer hooligans perched on barstools, the film takes us to Mongolia, Brazil, and Niger, and the sports fans are those living in remote areas without the convenience of home entertainment centers, a bowl of popcorn, or even a pub television.
The first group of enthusiastic fans is a tribe of nomadic Mongolians who travel the mountains using trained eagles to catch their dinner. While living away from civilization, they are very aware that the big game is on the horizon. Therefore, they take it upon themselves to pirate electricity from a desolate network of power lines and enjoy the tournament. The second group of protagonists is desert travelers in Niger. With a television strapped to the hump of a camel, they are on the lookout for a spot known as “the tree”, which is a manmade rod that will serve as a sufficient antenna for the sports broadcast. Finally, there are a group of Amazonian tribesman who desperately steal the materials needed to enjoy the game surrounded by greenery and wildlife.
I recently had the opportunity to review the impressive Ten Canoes, which dealt with Aboriginal tribe life in a non-patronizing manner. For similar reasons I enjoyed watching The Great Match. While not nearly in touch with its main characters as Canoes, Match is a film with a globetrotting plotline similar to that of Babel, but with a great deal of comedy mixed in. Rather than exoticizing the Other, this movie reveals that so many people across the world are alike and do not even realize it because of physical and cultural differences. While the Amazonian tribe is frowned upon by nearby mill workers as annoying savages, they are really normal men who want to find a television and enjoy the internationally renowned ballgame. If some groups took the time to look past shocking differences, they may find a more similar channel of communication; here that channel is popular sports.
What both hurts and hinders the film is its use of comedy. At first the film presents its sense of humor without hesitation. The characters are all eccentric and bicker with one another in a cutesy fashion. As hilarious as this is at the onset, this begins to wear thin by the time the big game finally debuts. At a running time of 88 minutes, this is a short-running film, but the humor lies mostly in the anticipation of this massive sporting event. At about an hour in, the characters feel more like pre-show entertainment to amuse us before the anticipated climax. The use of comedy is not necessarily a bad thing, but the humor is played out on a single and predictable note.
The Great Match is by no means a masterpiece, but it is certainly an enjoyable piece of work from abroad, and I would recommend that any fan of international cinema give this a try. With DVD, the United States has gone from accessing strictly Hollywood, domestic films, to a larger selection of independent and international titles, and Match certainly falls into the latter unique category. This story that links sports fans in three different places on Earth is a light comedy that may hit the nail on the head for many film buffs.
3.5 out of 5