Long Before Sepp When Football Was Young
Like it or not, expectations play a big part in the enjoyment of a film. Go in too high and you’re bound to be disappointed. Too low, and no matter how bad it is, you can still walk out feeling that you haven’t wasted the past two hours.
Expectations around genre can also be tricky.
I initially thought that “Montevideo” was a documentary about the first national Serbian football team that beat the odds by reaching the semi-finals in the inaugural World Cup in Uruguay. When I discovered that it was in fact a narrative film based on the same true story, I immediately conjured up images of other feel-good underdog sporting films such as “Invictus”, “The Rookie” or “A League of their Own”.
In this regard, the film is disappointing – it doesn’t conform to the usual structure starting with incompetency and persistent defeats followed by struggles at improvement, inspiring leadership and an eventual triumphant journey to victory. In fact there isn’t even a Montevideo or a World Cup. Our heroes never actually make it there! In the latest Hollywood tradition, the story has been split in two with this one actually ending on the team’s departure for the big event (the sequel is currently in production).
The result is a film that is a little thin on an overarching story that builds to any meaningful climax. It compensates for this by indulging in multiple loosely related sub-plots that whilst entertaining, leave the audience a little confused as to which story is really being told. It ends up being fairly drawn out and at 2 hours and 20 mins is too long for a film of this type.
However, the pieces that make up the whole are all done well. The characters have depth and are brought to life by some good performances. The relationships are well constructed and interwoven and there are ample doses of that Balkan humour typical of Serbian films..
Ultimately, this film has plenty of charm. The problem is that it tries to be a little of everything without really becoming anything. It has football (not much), but it’s not a sports story. It has romance, but it’s not a love story. It’s set in the 20’s but it’s not a period piece. It has politics but it’s not political. Friendships are tested, but it’s not a story about mateship. It touches on all of these but falls short of making an impact on any of them. In the end we get a film that is simply just a sum of its numerous (but enjoyable) parts.
Montevideo is screening from the 18th – 31st of August at Cinema Paris and Wetherill Park.
The Serbian Film Festival opens in October.
https://www.serbianfilmfestival.com.au/