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Friday, February 08, 2008

Euro 2008 Film Festival: Group B, Austria


Film Festival Rules & Guidelines

Film selected (Year, Director): Antares (2004, Götz Spielmann)
Rating: 8/10
Rules compliance: All rules met

Relevance to Soccer: cautious approach

No soccer manager or team ever takes the field with the intent of playing out a dull game. But sometimes managers approach the game with a cautious line-up because they rather get one point from the game and not lose. And if the opposing team manager also puts out a cautious line-up, then we get a stalemate of a game, with very few chances and no excitement.

Similarly, no couple every gets into a relationship with the intention of leading a dull marital life. But with the stresses and strains of every day life, a marriage can often become a routine with very few exciting moments.

At the start of the Austrian film Antares, Eva is living an ordinary life with her husband.

Her quiet and peaceful marriage offers very little excitement. So in order to shake things up, she undertakes a passionate affair.

The affair forms just one of three stories, all of which involve residents of an apartment complex in a manner which seems to echo Krzysztof Kieslowski's
Decalogue.

But Decalogue was completely engaging and featured memorable characters. Whereas, only some of the characters and stories in Antares are interesting. The film also runs for longer than it should.

Overall, Antares along with the two Austrian films by Ulrich Seidl (Dog Days and Import/Export) give a very bleak view of Austrian life. Hopefully, the Austrian soccer team can give their nation something to cheer for in the summer. Currently, as it stands, Austria are the weakest soccer team out of the 16 teams taking part at Euro 2008.

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