AFI Latin American Film Festival 2009

Ramiro Gómez’s understated documentary considers the connections and disconnections between globalized sports and its fans around the world by spending time in a Paraguayan village during the summer of 2006, when soccer’s biggest event, the World Cup, was taking place in Germany. Played out on the villagers’ small television sets, the images of the packed stadiums, raucous fans and excitable television announcers seem to be coming from another planet. But as we watch the small town’s team practice and play, and listen to the fans discuss and debate the game they love—even after the Paraguayan national team makes a quick exit from the tournament—we realize where the soul of the game resides. What seems at first a simple observational style ultimately reveals a deeper examination of fandom and faith in the face of disappointment and struggle.

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