United Passions

Christian_alternakid am 23.08.2020 um 20:33 Uhr:

Einer der denkwürdigsten Filme überhaupt: die Sepp Blatter FIFA hat tatsächlich gut 25 Millionen Dollar für das längste Marketingvideo-aka-Geschichtsklitterung ever ausgegeben. Muss man gesehen haben, um das glauben zu können. Wie sie hier auch noch Gerard Depardieu als Jules Rimet (der allerdings aussieht wie Walter Sedlmayr, Gott hab ihn selig) und Tim Roth als Sepp Blatter (I kid you not!) verpflichten konnten, ist einfach irre. Wie dringend muss man Geld brauchen, um Sepp Blatter in einem FIFA-Film spielen zu wollen?
"United Passions" ist der erste Film, der hauptsächlich nicht aus Zelluloid oder digitalem Zeugs besteht, sondern aus Selbstbeweihräucherung.
Verlogener kann ein Drehbuch kaum sein: als hätte Hitler einen Spielfilm in Auftrag gegeben, der ihn als knuddeligen Altruisten zeigt.

Für Details empfehle ich die Kritik aus dem britischen Telegraph:

"United Passions is a motion picture that appears to have been made by a man who’s never so much as heard a story. It includes performances by actors who have quite possibly never met other human beings. It is not good.
Whatever Frederic Auburtin was paid to write and direct this bloated monstrosity, it wasn’t enough. Whether he’ll work again remains to be seen.
The filmmaker somehow manages to reduce actors like Tim Roth, Sam Neill and Gerard Depardieu to the level of an amateur dramatics society. The latter particularly struggles with the word “Uruguay”, one he is required to use rather a lot. One can only imagine the scene on set looked something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=457nGTf4fsQ

Perhaps the strangest aspect of the whole sorry mess is that a governing body is presented as noble and heroic. The people behind the film seem to genuinely believe children grow up dreaming of doing admin. Forget Pele, these guys are the real heroes.

(…) Fast forward a few years (something the film is very keen on, thereby ensuring the viewer never becomes too invested in any aspect of the narrative) and we meet Blatter. Hagiography, thy name is United Passions.
Blatter is painted as a tireless campaigner let down by those around him. An underling tells him he “deserves it” in reference to the top job. When Fifa’s coffers run dry, he pays staff out of his own pocket and, when he voices his concerns about the financial situation, is informed: “You worry too much.” As early as 1982 he is trying to get video technology on the agenda and, best of all, he goes as far as to warn his colleagues: “The slightest breach of ethics will be punished.” This is a 109 minute homage to dramatic irony.

This should not be a film. It should not include proper actors. The soundtrack should not incorporate Talking Heads. At one point, Roth’s Blatter turns all Don Corleone and says: “One should always forgive, just as one should never forget.”

As someone who watched the film in its entirety, I have a different maxim – never forgive, never forget.“