Director: Danny Cannon
Cast: Kuno Becker, Stephen Dillane, Alessandro Nivola and others
I checked out this movie from the public library thinking it would be a great action-packed soccer movie. Was I disappointed? Boy this movie was such a let down. The soccer/ football theme could have been handled so well but the director has chosen to make it a damp squib. No wonder this 2005 movie never made it to the headlines. The story is about Santiago Munez, a young man passionate about playing soccer/ football. He has illegally immigrated to US from Mexico and is playing along with street boys in Los Angeles. He is spotted by a Glen (Stephen Dillane), a former big-league football player himself. Glen accosts Munez and asks him if he would be interested in playing pro-soccer. Quite naturally Munez is excited and invites him to another match on Saturday. Glen tries his best to get a talent scout to come to the match but fails. Then he gets in touch with the owner of the Newcastle team in England and convinces him to give Munez a trail.
Munez saves all his meager earnings in a bid to buy passage to London. Meanwhile his father is totally against him playing soccer, he wants his son to work hard and make a living. When his savings are just about becoming enough to enable him to travel to England, his father confiscates the money and buys a truck. Munez is shattered, meanwhile his grandmother somehow manages money and buys his ticket and tells him to go. There is some drama about how his mother had walked out on the family on arriving in US from Mexico. Some family drama etc.\
Santiago arrives in England and tries to play. He is not successful in the initial attempts. Glen fights with the team managers and coach and gets him a one month trail. Then there are other players/ coaches who continue to stand by him to ensure a place in the team.
What strikes me as a viewer is that there is not much of football shown in the movie. There is more popular support for Munez rather than talent. Instead of showing his talent with the ball the director shows how people influence to ensure he keeps his position in the team.
I remember Paulo Coelho's quote in The Alchemist: "When you want something with complete passion, the whole universe conspires to help you achieve the goal". This is not the exact quote but something like that. Comparing it to this movie, Munez badly wants to the a pro-soccer player, the whole universe, a passing acquaintance, his grandma, his friends in the team all conspire to get him into the team.
I think the director could have done a much better job with the theme rather than wasting away the chance to make a great movie.
