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We went to see Das Wunder von Bern yesterday. A German film that's about football – sort of. If had been only about football, I wouldn't have gone there, knowing my dislike of it. But it's also about history and, for me, even slightly educational as I finally learned the basic trivia about German football history this way.
The film is set in 1954 and follows the football world championship where the German team surprisingly emerged as the winner. Fun to see how civilised both the players – suits, ties and modesty – and the fans are depicted. No suits when playing of course, when they're wearing funny '1950s style' shirts that have laces at the top – just as in Sigur Rós' Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa video – and adidas football shoes with screw-on studs which were apparently invented back then. (Even if this is true, I wonder how much adidas 'supported' the film).
Football alone would have made the film a bit boring and limited the audience I guessed, so they made it a film about post war Germany. Being football champion less than ten years after the war meant a lot to the people. But that's 'after the game'. The plot doesn't deal with it, instead it focuses on a little boy who is carrying the bag of one of the players and whose father just returned from being a prisoner in the USSR, having difficulties to adjust to the situation back in freedom, non-starvation with his wife earning the living and his children being ten years older.
Another sub plot features a sports journalist who goes to the world championship instead of on his honeymoon – with his non-football-loving wife reluctantly joining him and eventually even liking it. Dutifully she focuses on the important bits – namely the players' thighs.
I guess everything is a bit clichéd and twisting history a bit. Yet it is quite an emotional film that may help – me at least – to understand why people consider that event to be so important. And perhaps they're right.
The film being set in the 1950s people also wear better clothes than they do these days. Is it just the movies or were clothes actually better back then? Another note – I really digged the opening credits. Making titles for films must be a cool thing to do. People can play a lot with different typefaces to match the film.
I didn't dare to link to the film's web site as that forwards to such a frame ridden ugly mess owned by the yellow press that as far as I am concerned the film doesn't have an official site.