Calgary International Film Festival 2010, preview 1

The 2010 Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) kicks off in less than 2 weeks time. The film selections continue to grow in technical and artistic strength each year and this year the festival has some amazing films on display, with the Mavericks competition category showcasing some of the best films of the year. Last year, Mavericks contained some worthy films such as Karaoke (2009 Maverick winner), Be Calm and Count to Seven, Everyone Else and Fish Eyes but this year's selection is much stronger than the 2009 list.

Manuel di Ribera

This visually stunning film is a fascinating mix of Lisandro Alonso and Bela Tarr yet is completely original. The lonely journeys of Manuel, conducted with the aid of boats, has touches of Alonso (from both Los Muertos & Liverpool) while the mostly grayish/dark environment and the drunken locals' distrust of Manuel feels similar to Tarr's The Outsider and Satantango. Also, the film brilliantly plays with the concept of reality by having two almost similar scenes of an event incorporated into the film -- one real and one imagined. The audience is left to figure out what the reality is.

Note: The isolated Chilean island seems to echo the island in the third short of Andrés Wood's Historias de fútbol.

The Intern

Clara Picasso's sublime film cleverly uses a Buenos Aires hotel setting as a springboard to examine wider issues, such as male-female power games and the thin boundary that exists between private and public life. Not a single minute is wasted in the film's brisk 64 minutes. Almost at each 20 minute segment, the viewer has to track back to the previous segment to get a clue as to mystery or relationship tussle taking place on screen. The end result is an engaging film.

R

Stand by for the one of the most brutal and dark films of the year!! The tag 'dark film' is easily thrown around but in the case of R, the tag is entirely justified. The film makes last year's wonderful Un prophète look like a feel good happy film. Besides being completely savage, R is intelligent and that is demonstrated by a clever perspective shift two-thirds into the film which shows the similar hierarchies of two rival gangs.

The Robber

A highly entertaining yet intelligent film. This film is an example that an accessible film can be made without clichés or spoon feeding the audience. The two highs of running and robbing give Johann’s life meaning and it is clear these habits will eventually take a toll on his life. The entire film is defined by fast movement, shown by Johann's marathon runs or his perfectly timed car getaways. Remarkably, the story is not fiction and based on a real life character.

Hunting & Zn

This powerful Dutch film shows how a complicated relationship can be strained when lies and a pregnancy enters the equation. Like last year's brilliant Everyone Else, this film is bold enough to look at the nasty side that exists in all relationships and thereby causes the audience to get deeply involved with the film. As a warning, pregnant women or couples expecting a child might want to brace themselves for an emotionally challenging film.

You All Are Captains

This fascinating award winning black and white film demonstrates that even an improvised film needs a structure to make the work engaging. The film's first 20 minutes feature a filmmaker teaching school kids how to use a camera. The filmmaker has no script or goal in mind and a result, frustrates his students who are puzzled by the filmmaker's motives. After the kids complain, the filmmaker is replaced with another director who gives a structure thereby letting the film's brilliance shine through. The ending of the film in color puts the whole work into perspective including the first 20 minutes. A film and filmmaker to watch out for.

Lucky Life

Lee Isaac Chung deserves a lot of credit for making a poetic film that deals with cancer in such a tender manner that one never gets the sense of impending death that will take over one of the characters. The film is more concerned with mood than specific details as most of the conversations appear to be improvised and not scripted cinema, which adds to the film's fluid flow. The film has a very cool mood around it and when the characters meet each other, there are smiles and tender moments throughout reflecting the strong friendship that exists.

Cold Water of the Sea

This Tiger Award winning film (Rotterdam) adds an artistic layer on top of an accessible coming of age tale. The parallels between a young girl and woman is interestingly shown as the two characters form reflections of each other. The beautiful landscape of Costa Rica contrasts the internal struggles of the characters.

Putty Hill

A unique and interactive film that blurs the line between documentary and fiction. The interactive aspect is executed by having the actors in the frame stop what they are doing and look towards the camera to answer questions by an unseen interviewer. And once they are done answering the questions, the camera steps back and films the action.

And finally, this year there is a Canadian entry in competition -- Snow and Ashes. It is a film that I am looking forward and is the only one that I have not previewed from the 10.

Indian Cinema Spotlight

In international waters Indian cinema’s flag is flown by Bollywood but that is an unfortunate situation because Bollywood is not representative of the rich Indian cinematic culture that exists outside the dream factories of Mumbai. Ofcourse, the problem is that one has to dig deep to uncover those precious Indian films that have been lovingly made away from Bollywood’s shadows. So my goal on a recent trip to India was to come back with some worthy finds. I am quite happy with my loot but I owe a great deal of thanks to my good friends Nitesh at Indian Auteur and Deepa at Film Impressions for helping me track down some of these films. Delhi and Mumbai are packed with many great spots to find Indian films but the trick is knowing someone to navigate the streets to get at these places. Both Nitesh and Deepa led me to places not listed on any website or a map and if weren’t for them, I would have easily walked by these places without giving it a second thought.

Master and Pupil

Uski Roti (1970, Mani Kaul)
Aadmi Ki Aurat Aur Anya Kahaniya (2009, Amit Dutta)

Mani Kaul is easily one of India’s shining auteurs yet his name is absent from most discussions about Indian cinema in North American cinephile circles. So I was delighted to come across his first feature Uski Roti and finally plug a gap in my viewing filmography.

Most people in India had not heard of Amit Dutta when his 2009 feature debut Aadmi Ki Aurat Aur Anya Kahaniya was selected at the Venice Film Festival. Almost a year later, his visually stunning feature is still largely unknown. His new film Nainsukh played at Venice this year and it will be interesting to see if either his new film or the 2009 feature will get a wider audience aside from a small cinephile circle in India or a select few film festivals.

A Marathi Double

Natarang (2010, Ravi Jadhav)
Harishchandrachi Factory (2009, Paresh Mokashi)

Atul Kulkarni is a versatile actor but unfortunately he has not had enough quality roles in recent Bollywood films. So it was interesting to hear the buzz for his role in a local hit Marathi film where he played the two diverse roles of a muscular hunk and an eunuch. The film sounded too good to pass up.

I have had my eye on Harishchandrachi Factory ever since it started making waves in Mumbai in the summer of 2009. Unfortunately, the film never got a proper release in Indian cities or North America for that matter until January/February of this year. The film’s release outside of Maharashtra was certainly aided after the film was selected as India’s official submission for the 2010 Academy Awards.

Two eye opening docs

Final Solution (2003, Rakesh Sharma)
War and Peace (2001, Anand Patwardhan)

I was bowled over by Rakesh Sharma’s insightful 4 hour documentary Final Solution when I first saw it almost 6 years ago. Sharma bravely uncovers the truth about the hatred that led to the Hindu-Muslim clashes in Gujarat 2002. It is a film that has stayed with me over the years and is something I always wanted to revisit.

Anand Patwardhan is also known for bravely taking his camera to locales where the Indian media rarely goes in search of the truth. Yet I had never been able to see any of his docs so I am glad to finally see one of his films.

Looking back, looking ahead

Garam Hawa (1973, M.S. Sathyu)
Road, Movie (2009, Dev Benegal)

2 Auteurs x 3

The Visitor (1991, Satyajit Ray)
Ganashatru (1990, Satyajit Ray)
Ghare-Baire (1984, Satyajit Ray)

Subarnarekha (1965, Ritwik Ghatak)
Komal Gandhar (1961, Ritwik Ghatak)
Nagarik (1952, Ritwik Ghatak)

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Future Indian spotlights

I had no intention of having a regional spotlight but instead wanted to focus on some directors. As it turned out, South Indian cinema was absent from this list. So a future spotlight will focus exclusively on South Indian cinema and contain a blend of artistic and genre films.

Another future spotlight will only tackle the growing B-grade cinema that is once again making inroads in India. One could argue that B-grade Indian cinema never really went away but instead has now managed to attract more attention. Still, I am curious to visit this cinema to find out if any of the plots have changed over the course of the last few decades.

Buon Americano

The American (2010, USA, Anton Corbijn): 10/10

Over the years, I have seen some wonderful film posters in New Delhi, Mumbai, Madrid, Rotterdam, Paris & London but the only posters that I have come across in Canada have been run of the mill dull copies promoting the next commercial venture. Which is why I stopped in my tracks when I laid my eyes on The American's poster.

This stunning poster etched out a 1960's-70's time period with George Clooney appearing to be a James Bond like figure. A lone man, a hero?, dashing away with a gun in his hand away from the watchful eye of a woman (femme fatale?) in the background.

That was it. For the first time in my life, I made up my mind to watch a film based on a poster. The only other information I bothered to look up was the director's name. I avoided reading the story or seeing the trailer.

A gamble of sorts.

And remarkably, the gamble paid off nicely because The American is a beautiful, rewarding artful film. It is a film that allows us to calmly admire the Italian landscape and quietly observe Jack/Edward (Clooney) at work or during his moments of lovemaking to a beautiful Italian woman named Clara (Violante Placido). There is no needless dialogue to take us away from the events filling the frame and the expressions of the characters give enough clues as to their motives. No time is wasted in explaining Jack's background but there are enough clues presented to allow viewers to fill in their own version of a back story. Also, the film cleverly creates moments of tension with simple situations and a rich soundtrack.

Now, Jack is not a stranger to the cinematic screen after all. Variations of his lonely assassin for hire have graced cinema for decades be it in the form of a spy, an outlaw (say in a Sergio Leone film) or a criminal but the big difference that Anton Corbijn and writer Rowan Joffe have made is to remove bloodshed and explosive action sequences from the equation. As a result, the film is a polished and thoughtful work of art that is completely engaging.

Lonely men in Europe sitting in a cafe

The closest association to The American in my mind is Jim Jarmusch's wonderful The Limits of Control as the main characters in both films are assassins who travel across Europe, spend time enjoying a cup of coffee in a cafe and cross paths with interesting enticing women. The one big difference is that The Limits of Control has an element of humour around it whereas The American is a bit more serious although it does contain brief moments of lightness. Also, The Limits of Control presents the story in abstract clues that have to be put together whereas most details in The American are presented clearly as the story moves along.

Surpizingly both The Limits of Control and The American have been savaged by North American critics for being "pretentious art house films". Hmmm. Both films have long takes, little dialogue and no loud explosions. So are those enough reasons to dismiss these films? Hardly. And even the nudity in The American has gotten some complaints as it has been used as an excuse to further the film's European art-house label.

For me The American is one of the best films of the year. Yet, I have a feeling this film will be quietly ignored by most even though it can be found playing in a multiplex. But this is a film that deserves to be seen.

Bankploitation, anyone?

Sam Raimi’s wonderful Drag Me to Hell has been rightly praised for a return to the director’s horror roots. But the film is more than just a horror film. It may be the first film of a new genre -- bankploitation. The genre, which surprizingly has not yet taken off, would feature stories about revenge against the evil banks. As hard as it is to believe, there was a time not too long ago in 2008, long before oil companies were re-instated as villains, that the banks and financial markets were considered evil. The bankers freely gambled away people’s futures thereby leading to a serious financial crisis. People’s anger grew but there was nothing the common person could do. Even governments bend over backwards to give the banks more money (sounds improbable but seriously true) thereby allowing the banks to return to their profit making ways in less than no time. So the common man/woman were left helpless with no one willing to provide an outlet for their anger and frustration. That outlet finally arrived in 2009, when Sam Raimi came to the rescue with his film.

Christine Brown plays an innocent, honest and hard working woman, who is hoping to get the position of assistant manager at her bank.

But she is worried that her hard work and time with the company won’t be enough as a recent hire Stu is determined to suck up to the boss to get the position. When an opportunity to prove her assistant manager credentials literally comes knocking on her desk, Christine decides to ditch her good hearted ways.

Mrs Ganush has failed to meet her mortgage payments despite getting 2 bank extensions but she does not want to lose her familial home and asks Christine for a 3rd extension.

Christine goes to her boss to consult the case. Her boss explains that the bank would stand to make money by rejecting Mrs Ganush but still leaves the final decision in Christine’s hands. So Christine decides that the only way she can move up the bank ladder is to do what all the other male bankers before her did and reject Mrs Ganush, thereby making a decision to profit the bank and seal her progress into the assistant managerial chair.

Mrs Ganush begs Christine, gets down on her knees, and kisses Christine’s skirt, but Christine panics and calls the security guards.

Mrs Ganush feels shamed by Christine’s reaction and tries to strangle Christine.

Christine manages to escape unharmed but spends the rest of the film trying to avoid getting dragged into hell after a curse is put on her head by Mrs Ganush.

Drag Me to Hell shows that if a bank employee merely treats their customer as a means to advance their career via beefing up the bank’s profits, then there could be serious consequences such as an evil demon could be summoned to drag the employee down to hell. Ofcourse, the revenge against the bank is depicted under the guise of a horror film as the story strictly adheres to the horror film template of having an innocent female in distress. It does seem unfair to inflict a death curse on Christine after her first male-induced cold hearted decision but horror films rarely show mercy to female characters. In this sense, Drag Me to Hell merely conforms to the standards of throwing female characters under the bus (or train). Maybe in the future some other director might do go the full Bankploitation path and call their film ”Wall Street: Money Drags You to Hell”.

On another note, Drag Me to Hell does one thing rarely seen in horror films -- it includes a scene where the evil demon attacks Christine in broad daylight, breaking away from the convention of depicting horror only at night time.

While the film manages to be funny and packs some scares it is ofcourse pure fiction. Because if there were real gypsies capable of cursing bankers, then maybe some of the financial men might have thought twice about their reckless decisions.

Japanese Cinema Spotlight

Now that the World Cup is over, the backlog of the various film spotlights can start. The Japanese spotlight is first with the following assorted titles on tap:

The Only Son (1936, Yasujirô Ozu)
There was a Father (1942, Yasujirô Ozu)
Tales of Ugetsu (1953, Kenji Mizoguchi)
Bakumatsu Taiyoden (1957, Yuzo Kawashima)
Good Morning (1959, Yasujirô Ozu)
Tokyo Olympiad (1965, Kon Ichikawa)
Patriotism (1966, Yukio Mishima)
Samurai Rebellion (1967, Masaki Kobayashi)
Cure (1997, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Fish Story (2009, Yoshihiro Nakamura)

The original intent was to find titles spread across a few decades but somehow the selection is more tilted towards the 1950's - late 1960's, with 3 titles from each decade. Also, Ozu has three titles but I had my eye on these three films for a while. Cure is the only 90's title and Fish Story is the only new selection which screened last week at Fantasia in Montreal.

The one big unknown is Bakumatsu Taiyoden, a title helmed by a director I have never read about. So I am quite excited to see if this is a rare discovery.

Soccer DNA

Form is temporary, class is permanent.

This time, Thierry Henry provided another working example of the old cricket proverb.

On Thursday, July 22, Henry made his debut for the New York Red Bulls against Arsenal's bitter rivals Spurs and as expected, Henry duly scored a goal. No matter where Henry goes, he will always have Arsenal DNA in his blood. The same can't be said about Arsenal's current captain.

Inception

Dream within a dream within a dream

Inception (2010, USA/UK, Christopher Nolan)

Alejandro Amenábar beautifully explored the complex world of dreams and reality in Open Your Eyes, later remade into Vanilla Sky. However, the story of both films only explored one level of a dream world. Christopher Nolan has taken that core concept of dreams vs reality and gone two/three levels deeper, thereby creating a hyperlink dream maze that requires multiple hops to exit. Even though Inception traverses multiple dream levels and is bursting with fascinating ideas, it is a remarkably accessible film that manages to explains its ideas in a fluid manner without halting the plot progression. Ofcourse, since it is also a summer film, it contains the mandatory action sequences and explosions, without which the film might not have gotten booked in a multiplex in the first place. Thankfully, a majority of the explosive scenes shot in the Canadian snow-capped mountains arrive in the finale and don't derail the film too much.

Rating: 9/10

note: The story presented in Inception would certainly have made Jorge Luis Borges smile, given that Borges was a master of labyrinths and dreams within dreams.

Ugly tactics & antics close off a good tournament

The Dutch are destined not to win the World Cup. Their total football failed to win the World Cup in 1974 and 1978 and on Sunday, their ugly brutal football failed to land the 2010 trophy. Yet, the Dutch ironically contributed to their own downfall. The architects of their total football Rinus Michels and Johan Cryuff found their way to Barcelona in the 1970's and laid the first seeds of Dutch footballing ideas in Catalunya. Louis Van Gaal and Frank Rijkaard nurtured those attacking philosophies further and contributed to Barcelona becoming an attacking force. And those Barcelona players were a huge reason why Spain won their first World Cup on July 11. In a way, Dutch footballing ideas taken from the Ajax academy and planted in Barcelona over a course of three decades led to a Dutch defeat. Although the Spanish added their own key ingredient of play-acting, cheating and diving to ensure the Dutch would have no chance. Sure Holland's tactics were brutal but the Spanish attempts to con the referee were no less ugly. Iniesta was especially guilty of such antics and his most clear cut dive was to get Van Der Wiel booked. Busquets complained to the ref about Dutch diving yet it is Busquets who took the biggest dive of the 2009/10 Champions League season when he performed a somersault at the hint of a slightest touch against Arsenal's Denilson. Oddly, the one Dutch player known for his diving chose the wrong time to become honest. Robben was through on goal for a 2nd time, after missing his first clear cut break away chance in the 62nd minute, and was clearly held back by Puyol yet Robben decided to stay on his feet for a change. Had Robben gone down, then Puyol would surely have gotten a red card.

If Spanish players can't take the kicks, then why must Arsenal put up with it?

Plenty of neutrals are praising Spain for their beautiful football but in reality, Spain were nothing special. They controlled the ball but that was because Holland opted to unsettle Spain by fouling them off the ball and disrupt their play. The Germans also decided to sit back and let Spain have all the possession but the Germans failed to pull off a Swiss result and created no counter opportunity.

It is funny to see the Dutch getting criticized for their negative play by English writers, especially since this is the tactic adopted week in week out by Blackburn, Stoke and Bolton when they play Arsenal. Yet, Arsenal are told to get on with it and are said to not like the physical aspect of the game. But the Spanish are treated as victims when Holland went all Blackburn on Spain. Arseblog sums it up perfectly:

When professional footballers speak before a game about how you have to kick Arsenal, literally, to compete in a game they have a little titter, complain about Arsene Wenger moaning and accuse us of being weak, needing to man-up. Yet they couldn't condemn the Dutch fast enough. And leaving aside van Bommel and de Jong there wasn't another dirty player on the pitch. Bookings are part and parcel of the game, Spain picked up a few too. There's another thing - why do they ignore the cynical side of the Spaniards? If you're going to have a go at dirty/foul play why not criticise the Spanish for the way they constantly crowded the referee waving imaginary cards?

Interestingly, Howard Webb freely gave out yellow cards during the final yet on many occasions in the English league, he has kept the card in his pocket for similar or worse tackles thereby allowing the English players to freely get stuck in against the opposition.

Tricks

A year ago I used to admire the Spanish ball movement but over the last few months it has become very hard to appreciate Spain because their Barcelona players have transformed into an ugly propaganda machine in their effort to bring Cesc back to Barcelona. Cesc has a legal contract with Arsenal yet Barcelona have tried every single disgusting trick to pressure Arsenal into selling their key player. Now it seems the dirty tricks of the Barca players have extended even to Pepe Reina who is a Liverpool player. I cannot understand why Reina, Puyol & Pique resorted to this trick of putting a Barca shirt on Cesc during the Spanish post world cup celebrations. Disgusting!

Nothing at stake = lots of goals

Before the tournament, I would have liked either Spain or Holland to have won the trophy on the basis of the amazing technical players they had. But after watching a terrible final, I rather the trophy was given to one of Germany or Uruguay who put on quite a show in the 3rd place game.

I have wanted the 3rd place game to be eliminated for a while now but the one positive thing about the fixture is that it traditionally provides plenty of goals. One would have to go back to 1978 to when the final had more goals than the 3rd place game (in France 98, both the 3rd place game and final had a total of 3 goals.) And so it was again on Saturday when the meaningless game provided 5 goals and plenty of excitement. Germany won the game 3-2 but Forlan came within inches of taking the game into extra-time when his last second free kick rebounded off the bar. The game also gave Muller & Forlan a chance to notch up their 5th goals of the tournament, a result which meant that Muller took home the golden ball. Back in 1998, Suker also took home the golden ball after scoring a 6th goal in a 2-1 win over the Dutch. Ofcourse, Just Fontaine made the most of this fixture when he grabbed 4 goals in France's 6-3 win over West Germany in 1958 taking his goal tally to 13, a record that will never be broken.

Regional overview

32 teams is too much for the World Cup, especially since many teams are there just to make up the numbers. Ideally, I would like to see the number trimmed back to 24 and a coefficient system used to determine how many teams from each confederation will be allowed for future tournaments. Such a coefficient system is currently used in the Champions League and ensures that club teams from the various countries try to perform well otherwise their nations risk losing key spots.

1) Europe

13 spots is too much for Europe, especially since Denmark, England, France, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Portugal, Switzerland and Serbia were plain awful. Slovakia provided a thrilling finale against Italy but were unadventurous against Paraguay. In the end, European teams took the top 3 spots in the tournament but only Germany and Spain can hold their heads up given the football they played.

2) Africa

Only Ghana did Africa proud whereas Nigeria, Ivory Coast & Cameroon look to have taken a few steps backwards in the last few years. Africa's 5 spots seems too generous given the poor football on display in 2010.

note: South Africa got the 6th African spot as hosts.

3) South America

Considering that there are only 10 countries in the confederation, 5 South American spots seems too much but in fairness all 5 teams did full justice to their World Cup places. Still, one spot can be trimmed, most likely the play-off spot between the 5th place South American team and the 4th place North & Central American team.

I am not sure if there is a possibility of 6 South American in 2014 since Brazil are the hosts. 6 would be too much for South America.

4) North & Central America

Mexico and USA carried the region's flag proudly although Honduras went home with no goals. Still, 3 spots seems to be a minimum for this region.

5) Asia

South Korea & Japan did amazingly well, especially when it came to free-kicks, scoring 3 goals from set-pieces. North Korea had a decent 55 minutes against Brazil but were clearly out of their depth in the other 2 games. Australia came in through the Asian qualifying path and should only improve as they have managed to establish some rivalries, especially with Japan, from playing in Asia. I would leave Asia's 4 spots untouched, although I would remove the option for a 5th team in a play-off with Oceania.

6) Oceania

New Zealand had the easiest path to the tournament and managed to leave as the only unbeaten team. That is quite a remarkable achievement but I still want to see Oceania merged completely with Asia, thereby providing New Zealand the same chance as Australia to frequently play better opposition.

Balancing the numbers

If 32 teams are to be reduced to 24, then I think this is how the 8 spots can be eliminated:

Europe should lose 4 automatic spots.
Africa should lose 2 automatic spots.
The additional play-off spot between Asia and Oceania should be eliminated.
The additional play-off spot between South America and North & Central America should be eliminated.

This would give a total of 23 automatic spots with Europe (9), South America (4), Africa (3), Asia & Oceania (4), North and Central America (3). The 24th spot can go to the host nation and have no bearing on the regional quota.

These numbers should not be fixed permanently and instead should change with every World Cup depending on how the various regional teams perform.

Also, an additional option could be to have more inter-regional play-offs such as between Europe & Africa, Europe & Asia, South America & North America to ensure teams that reach the World Cup are there on merit rather than making up the regional numbers.

Change is required

I can safely assume FIFA will not do anything with the regional numbers. Too much lobbying effort is spent by each federation to ensure their numbers are kept intact. Also, the FIFA president requires votes from each of the federations so one can assume any decision against one federation could endanger those votes.

However, as a minimum, FIFA must introduce goal-line technology to ensure that the games are not ruined by horrible decisions. Also, FIFA must have the power to ban divers after reviewing each game and reverse incorrect yellow card decisions in a game. Muller's yellow card seemed harsh in the Quarter-Final and caused him to miss the game with Spain where he might have made a difference. Laurent Blanc famously missed the 1998 World Cup final after Bilic dove in the semi-final earning Blanc a ridiculous red card.

Also, the number of games played by the top players in the world has to be reduced. FIFA has to eliminate the useless Confederation Cup, along with trimming some of the World Cup qualifying games. UEFA also needs to do their part by reducing the qualifying games for the European Championships especially since 24 teams will be allowed in future tournaments. 24 is almost half of the 53 teams that play in UEFA, so why should European teams have to play in a group of 5-6 teams to qualify for the European Cup?

2010 Movie World Cup, Recap

A film spotlight based on the 2010 Soccer World Cup

The Rules and selection criteria were drafted back in November 2009, with the first film viewed back in Dec 2009 and the final film seen only days before the soccer World Cup kicked off on June 11, 2010. From the 32 film list there were many entries that looked as potential finalists:

England: Of Time and the City (2008, Terence Davies)
Japan: The Human Condition, part I (1959, Masaki Kobayashi)
Portugal: Colossal Youth (2006, Pedro Costa)
Paraguay: Paraguayan Hammock (2006, Paz Encina)
France: Sans soleil (1983, Chris Marker)
Brazil: Almost Brothers (2004, Lúcia Murat)
Spain: The Spirit of the Beehive (1973, Victor Erice)
Germany: Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (1922, Fritz Lang)
Italy: Il Divo (2008, Paolo Sorrentino)
Argentina: Liverpool (2008, Lisandro Alonso)
South Korea: Like you Know it All (2009, Hong sang-soo)
USA: Ballast (2008, Lance Hammer)
Chile: Historias de fútbol (1997 Andrés Wood)

Of these, the English, Italian and Brazilian titles were hugely disappointing. Only the Argentine feature exceeded expectations and very early on it was evident that it was a potential winner. The following were a few pleasurable discoveries:

Mexico: In the Pit (2006, Juan Carlos Rulfo)
Honduras: El Porvenir (2008, Oscar Estrada)
Serbia: The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (2009, Mladen Djordjevic)

I wish I had spent more time digging up a Dutch title but I took a gamble with the 2009 feature Amsterdam (Ivo van Hove) and unfortunately, it didn't pay off.

Below is a more complete recap.

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First Round

Following are the films listed in the order they finished in the group, with total points out of 9.

Group A -- Mexico (In the Pit, 8), Uruguay (Gigante, 8), France (Sans Soleil, 7), South Africa (U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha, 6)

Group B -- Argentina (Liverpool, 9), Greece (The Lost Monument, 8), South Korea (Like You Know it All, 8), Nigeria (Without Shame, 4)

Group C -- USA (Ballast, 9), Algeria (Daugther of Keltoum, 7), Slovenia (How I Killed a Saint, 6), England (Of Time and the City, 5)

Group D -- Serbia (The Life and Death of a Porno Gang, 9), Germany (Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler, 8), Australia (Celia, 6), Ghana (The Perfect Picture, 5)

Group E -- Japan (The Human Condition, part I, 9), Denmark (Flame and Citron, 8), Cameroon (A Trip to the Country, 7), Holland (Amsterdam, 5)

Group F -- Paraguay (Paraguayan Hammock, 8), Italy (Il Divo, 6), Slovakia (Orbis Pictus, 6), New Zealand (Black Sheep, 4)

Group G -- Portugal (Colossal Youth, 9), North Korea (North Korea: A Day in the Life, 7), Brazil (Almost Brothers, 6), Ivory Coast (Adanggaman, 5)

Group H -- Honduras (El Porvenir, 8), Spain (The Spirit of the Beehive, 7), Chile (Historias de fútbol, 6), Switzerland (A Crude Awakening, 5)

The top 2 films from each group advanced to the second round or the round of 16.

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Second Round

1) Mexico (In the Pit) 3-1 Greece (The Lost Monument)

2) USA (Ballast) 3-2 Germany (Dr. Mabuse The Gambler)

3) Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 3-0 Italy (Il Divo)

4) Portugal (Colossal Youth) 2-1 Spain (The Spirit of the Beehive)

5) Argentina (Liverpool) 3-1 Uruguay (Gigante)

6) Serbia (The Life and Death of a Porno Gang) 3-0 Algeria (Daughter of Keltoum)

7) Paraguay (Paraguayan Hammock) 2-3 Denmark (Flame and Citron)

8) Honduras (El Porvenir) 3-0 North Korea (North Korea: A Day in the Life)

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Quarter-Finals

1) Mexico (In the Pit) 3-3 USA (Ballast)
2) Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 2-2 Portugal (Colossal Youth)
3) Argentina (Liverpool) 3-2 Serbia (The Life and Death of a Porno Gang)
4) Denmark (Flame and Citron) 2-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)

The Mexican, Japanese and Honduran films all advanced to the Semi-Finals on the basis of subjective penalty shoot-out wins.

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Semi-Finals, 3rd Place & Final

Semi-Finals

Mexico (In the Pit) 3 - 2 Japan (The Human Condition, part I)
Argentina (Liverpool) 3-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)

3rd Place

Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 2-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)

The Honduran film takes 3rd place on penalties.

Final

Mexico (In the Pit) 2-3 Argentina (Liverpool)

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Overall, a very enjoyable festival with plenty of rich cinematic offerings. I especially relished the challenge of tracking down films from all 32 countries and such a task required a good investment of time and money. Some films were obviously a lot harder to find, such as the entries from Honduras, Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria but in the end it was worth it as the presence of a full set of 32 films made for a worthy competition.

2010 Movie World Cup, Semi-Finals, 3rd Place & Final

Semi-Final #1

Mexico (In the Pit) 3 - 2 Japan (The Human Condition, part I)

In the Pit

Freeway construction site. A concrete cross ready to bear the burden of human's technological advances. Forgive us concrete, for we humans have sinned.

The end sequence of In the Pit is quite beautiful and gives an overview of the enormous construction site and hovers over some of the hundreds of workers involved. We only get to meet a few of the site workers in the film but there are many more stories waiting to be told.

The Human Condition

An intelligent and fascinating case study of human egos, greed and power.

Kaji has the difficult task of trying to implement his ideals across two parties, masters and slaves, who hate and distrust the other. Just three snapshots of his complex discussions:

1) Telling the labor bosses to steal less makes Kaji an instant enemy.

2) Kaji's ideas about fair labor conditions and practices are immediately dismissed by his supervisors as impractical.

3) Breaking the bad news to the prisoners -- Kaji almost always has bad news for the prisoners because his humane methods are either not recognized or undermined.

The Human Condition is a timeless film that will always be relevant because humans will never be able to treat others with respect and dignity. Egos, greed and lust for power will never go out of fashion.

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Semi-Final #2

Argentina (Liverpool) 3-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)

Liverpool is about a solitary man's journey while El Porvenir looks at the reasons why young men abandon isolation in favor of gangs. Death is implied yet never seen in Liverpool whereas El Porvenir examines the brutal killing that took place in April 2003 at the El Porvenir penal farm.

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3rd Place Match

Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 2-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)

Penalty shoot-out! The Honduran film narrowly sneaks out third place on penalties.

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Movie World Cup Final

Mexico (In the Pit,2006, Juan Carlos Rulfo) 2-3 Argentina (Liverpool, 2008, Lisandro Alonso)

Lisandro Alonso's beautiful film ends up as the best overall film when compared to the other 31 entries. The Brazilian film, In the Middle of the World, won the 2006 Movie World Cup and now another South American film takes the 2010 Movie World Cup. Unfortunately, no South American team will win the 2010 soccer World Cup despite a strong showing from all 5 South American teams in the opening rounds.

Fate, High Drama, Penalty Kicks & Heroes/Villains

Uruguay vs Ghana, Extra Time, Quarter-Finals

Revisiting the now historic & dramatic final seconds of extra time during Uruguay's 1-1 tie with Ghana.

1) Free-kick is awarded to Ghana with less than 30 seconds on the clock.

2) Ghana's goal bound attempt is legally cleared off the line.

3) Ghana's second attempt is illegally punched off the line by Suarez.

4) A penalty is awarded to Ghana and a red card shown to Suarez.

5) Gyan steps up for a historic kick. The fate of a nation and an entire continent rests on his shoulders.

6) Incredibly the ball rings off the crossbar.

Gyan is shattered and the camera cuts to Suarez, the villain of this episode, who is now shown to be celebrating.

7) The match ends at 1-1 and heads to a penalty shoot-out.

Gyan shows tremendous mental strength and courage in being Ghana's first penalty taker. He once again goes for a high corner but this time successfully converts his kick.

Gyan's brave effort proves to be not enough as two of his teammates see their tame penalties saved allowing Abreu to chip Uruguay into the final four.

Ironic Penalties

Ironies are part and parcel of this game, especially those associated with penalties. People blame Roberto Baggio's penalty miss for costing Italy the 1994 World Cup but without Roberto Baggio's wonderful goals, including an extra time penalty kick against Nigeria in the second round, Italy would never have been in the final to begin with. Similarly, without Gyan, Ghana would not have been in the Quarter-Finals. Ghana failed to score a single goal from open play in the first round and the only reason that Ghana got to the second round was thanks to two successful penalty conversions from Gyan against Serbia and Australia. In both cases, it was a handball that gave Gyan the chance to score his vital goals. Gyan's penalty kicks enabled Ghana to be the only African team to make the second round at this World Cup so it is ironic that his miss dented Ghana's chances of making further history by becoming the first African country to make the semi-finals. Even though Gyan redeemed himself in the shoot-out, his failed attempt was the closest an African team has gotten to making the semi-finals of the World Cup.

Besides Ghana, in the last two decades, Cameroon and Senegal were the other two African teams who were within touching distance of the Semi-Finals but both Cameroon and Senegal lost in extra-time of Italia 1990 & Korea/Japan 2002 respectively. Although, penalties played a cruel part in Cameroon's elimination 20 years ago. Cameroon were leading 2-1 over England in regulation and were within 7 minutes of the Semi-finals but they gave away a penalty allowing England to tie the game up 2-2 and in extra time, they gave away another penalty to bow out of Italia 1990.

2010 Movie World Cup, Quarter-Finals

The head-to-head rules for the Quarter-Finals are the same as the second round, meaning three categories are used to decide a winner -- Direction, Structure (story and editing) & Cinematography.

1) Mexico (In the Pit) 3-3 USA (Ballast)

Both films perfectly soak up the mood and noise of their locales with In the Pit focusing on a freeway construction site in Mexico City and Ballast observing a family's plight in the Mississippi Delta. However, Juan Carlos Rulfo has also created a film that explains a nation's economic and social situation and offers a meditative look at the mess that humans have created for themselves with their never ending car packed roads. The more roads that humans build, the faster they will be filled with cars so in a way, construction for easing car congestion will inevitably lead to more congestion. The Myth of Sisyphus is well and truly a reality.

2) Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 2-2 Portugal (Colossal Youth)

Two completely different styles at play here with The Human Condition being a narrative driven exercise and Colossal Youth a mesmerizing painting. In the end, the Japanese film wins out because of its rich and fascinating template of intriguing characters who provide an understanding into the political problems facing our world. Now, there is no denying the pleasure that exists in observing Ventura in Colossal Youth but in order to enjoy moments with Ventura we are forced to spend time with Vanda, whose conversations did not suit my cinematic palate. In a way, Colossal Youth demonstrated both the beauty and frustrations demonstrated by the Portuguese national team at this World Cup. On one hand, Portugal played some champagne football in their 7 goal classic against North Korea but on the other hand they were also guilty of mind numbing dullness in two 0-0 draws against Ivory Coast and Brazil. Portugal vs North Korea = Ventura, while Portugal vs Ivory Coast = Vanda. If only Cape Verde were present in this group instead of Ivory Coast, then maybe, just maybe a dream of a lava house would have been truly realized.

3) Argentina (Liverpool) 3-2 Serbia (The Life and Death of a Porno Gang)

Death is a common bond between these films but with a slight difference -- in the case of Liverpool death is indirectly implied outside the frame but in The Life and Death of a Porno Gang death is found brutally and explicitly at every turn. Liverpool also signifies nirvana where the main character is able to shed off his worldly worries and attain pure liberation. On the other hand, The Life and Death of a Porno Gang demonstrates multiple lives cruelly cut short with none of the characters ever coming close to living out their wishes.

4) Denmark (Flame and Citron) 2-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)

The Danish film shows the emotional wear and tear of characters trained to kill for their cause while the Honduran feature examines a social system which allows killing to easily take place. Flame and Citron is set during WWII at a time when resistance groups fought for freedom but as El Porvenir shows even when a nation gets freedom, its citizens cannot freely etch out a living.

Movie Quarter-Final Results

Mexico, Japan and Honduras advance on the back of subjective penalty shoot-out wins while the Argentine feature advances with yet another strong result.

All the films at this stage are quality works as demonstrated by the first round ratings -- 5 of the 8 films scored 9/9 and the remaining 3 netted 8/9. So this made for some very close decisions and interestingly, three of the quarter finals ended up being decided by a subjective penalty shoot-out after the head-to-head match-up ended in a tie.

Soccer World Cup Quarter-Finals

My prediction for 4 possible South American teams in the Semi-Finals came to a crashing end this past weekend. But thankfully, the 4 matches were all classics in their own right and provided plenty of drama and intriguing stories.

Holland 2-1 Brazil

I did not see this one coming, especially after the first half when Holland were absolutely poor. How can one explain Brazil's implosion in the second half, especially Felipe Melo's moment of madness? Melo lost his mind and so did Brazil. Robinho and Fabiano are imposters who should spend their energy playing the game and not complaining. Dunga's decision to take extra defensive players to the World Cup backfired and when Brazil needed a goal, they had no creative force to call upon. Hopefully none of the existing Brazilians will ever play for the national team again and the 2014 Brazilian squad returns to its beautiful football roots.

Holland are in the semis for the first time since 1998 but this Dutch team is a world away from the 1974, 1978, 1988 Dutch squads known for beautiful football. Still, if there is a nation that deserves to win the World Cup based on the game's history, then it is Holland. But if the Dutch are to succeed, then they need Van Persie to stop getting injured and start scoring goals.

Uruguay 1-1 Ghana, Uruguay wins 4-2 on penalties

The hand of Suarez, a last minute penalty miss and a penalty shoot-out drama!! The end result is that Africa misses out on a historic semi-final berth while Uruguay is back in the semi-finals for the first time since 1970 when they lost 3-1 to Brazil.

Germany 4-0 Argentina

Prior to the game, my mind expected Germany to win but my heart wanted Argentina to win. Yet, I didn't expect such a one sided demolition job. Wow! Maradona went the opposite way of Dunga in that he left out much needed defensive cover in the form of Cambiasso & Zanetti and opted for more offensive players. The end result was that Germany had enough freedom to find space in Argentina's hollow defense.

Spain 1-0 Paraguay

What would Spain do without David Villa? Once again, Villa comes to the rescue after both team's captains, Casillas & Villar, made vital penalty saves although Villar got 2 tries to save one kick.

Brazil's defensive setup vs Argentina's attacking lineup

Dunga opted for 8 defenders, 8 midfielders and only 4 forward whereas Maradona took 7 defenders, 7 midfielders and 6 attackers. On top of that, Argentina's midfield was far more adventurous and attack minded than Brazil's defensive midfield which featured more holding players such as Gilberto and Melo. A Brazil vs Argentina final would have been a great opportunity to observe the contrasting styles but both team's weakness did them in. Brazil had almost no creativity to pry open the Dutch team and were as ineffective as they were in the 1-0 loss to France in the last World Cup whereas Argentina lacked any defensive cover to stop the German runs.

So back to the drawing board for Brazil and Argentina.

South America 1 - Europe 3

South America's bright start has faded away and only Uruguay remain waving the continent's flag while the presence of Holland, Germany and Spain in the semi's means there is a strong possibility of a European team finally winning the World Cup outside of Europe.

2010 World Cup, 1st Round Soccer vs Film & Predictions Review

First Round Comparison



9 countries advanced to both the soccer World Cup and movie tournament’s second round as all 8 groups provided atleast one common nation, with Group A being the only group that provided the same two nations.  Argentina, USA and Paraguay were the only three countries that topped both their soccer and movie groups.

Regional Comparison of the 16 Nations Advancing from the First Round

Soccer World Cup -- South America (5/5), Europe (6/13), North & Central America (2/3), Asia (2/3), Africa (1/6), Oceania (0/2).

Movie World Cup -- South America (3/5), Europe (7/13), North & Central America (3/3), Asia (2/3), Africa (1/6), Oceania (0/2).

It is quite remarkable that the regional representation is almost similar for both the soccer and film World Cups with the numbers for Asia, Africa and Oceania completely identical. In that sense, my film selections ended up being consistent with the different regional soccer team's performances. However, South American teams have stood out in the soccer World Cup with a brilliant performance as four of the five South American nations advanced in 1st place in their respective groups and Chile only gave up first place on the final day on goal-difference.

Predictions vs Actual Results in the Soccer World Cup



I correctly picked 12 out of 16 nations for my 2nd round picks. I clearly over-estimated Serbia's abilities while under-estimated South Korea, Ghana, Japan and Slovakia. Although I am still not convinced about Ghana because they failed to find the target from open play and had penalties to thank for their 2 strikes. One can argue that had Harry Kewell not used his arm then Ghana would have had a clear goal but Ghana owe a huge debt of gratitude for Zdravko Kuzmanovic’s gift of a handball. Serbia have only themselves to blame for their exit and their two needless handballs depicted the mental meltdown of their players. Vidic maybe reliable for Man Utd but he panicked against Germany and handled in a similar silly manner to Kuzmanovic.

Even though I didn't do too bad with my picks, I still got plenty of things wrong.

1) Group C

"Despite all their shortcomings, England will comfortably advance from this group along with USA."

Yes, both teams advanced but it was not very comfortable as England and USA needed 1-0 wins on the final day, with USA getting their winner in injury time.

"The big question will be whether the US can beat England to the group's #1 spot."

Yes this was answered as USA grabbed top spot but only on goal-difference. Prior to the World Cup, I thought that the only way the Americans could get top spot was if they beat England 2-1 otherwise if they only tied England 1-1, then they would finish in second place on goal difference because I expected England to beat Algeria 3-0 and Slovenia 2-0.

2) Group F

"I do not expect Italy to achieve anything and I am sure they will comply. It is hard to see this Italian team make it to the semi's but they have enough talent to win their group and advance to the next round."

Yes Italy did not achieve anything but instead of winning their easy group, they finished bottom.

"2nd spot will come down to Paraguay vs Slovakia with New Zealand finishing comfortably in 4th. For now, I am going to pick Paraguay to advance even though my instinct tells me Slovakia will go through."

Both Paraguay & Slovakia advanced but New Zealand finished impressively unbeaten in 3rd.

3) Group H

"Despite their injuries and possible fatigue, Spain should easily win the group. Chile had an excellent world cup campaign and should follow Spain out of this group. Ottmar Hitzfeld will ensure the Swiss put on a good display but Switzerland's style will be a complete contrast to Chile and Honduras."

Spain did win the group but it clearly was not a stroll.

Overall, I got the standings of all four teams correct for Group A, G and H but Group G & H were a bit easier to get right. I am most delighted with my group A predictions where I correctly picked the order of Uruguay, Mexico, South Africa and France. Most people I know expected France to not make it out of their group but quite a few of them expected South Africa to join Uruguay. I take pride in picking the game scores of the French games to be 0-0 with Uruguay, 0-2 Mexico and 0-1 South Africa. France lost 2-1 to South Africa but atleast I got 2 scores and goal difference correct for the French team. Ofcourse, with Raymond Domenech in charge, failure was the only option available for the French. The only reason that Domenech didn't fail miserably in 2006 was Zinedine Zidane.

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Second Round

The only match-up similar in the second round of the soccer and movie world cup is Spain vs Portugal. In the movie world cup, Pedro Costa’s beautiful film narrowly advanced over Victor Erice’s feature but it is hard to see the Portuguese soccer team beat out a Xavi-Iniesta-David Villa powered Spanish team.

Still, good football awaits this weekend. Hopefully there will be goals.

Cheats, Dives & Waka Waka

Evil handball vs Good handball

Every British soccer commentator has felt it their duty to talk about Thierry Henry's handball against the Irish every time the camera turned towards the French striker at this World Cup. In addition, every British newspaper finds ways to include the handball mention with any article related to the French team because they believe Henry's double juggle is no less than a war crime. And moments after the French lost 2-0 to Mexico, Soccernet decided the only headline they could come up with was "Irish Eyes are Smiling" and ignored any mention of Mexican joy at such a famous result. Yet, no one seems to find anything wrong about Luis Fabiano's double juggling of the ball to score Brazil's second goal against the Ivory Coast. This is how the Guardian summed it up.

Superb again from the Sevilla striker. Dinks the ball over Zokora, dinks the ball over Touré, (then brings the ball down with his arm), before cracking another fizzing shot past Barry. More than a hint of controversy about that one, but the skill was sublime in the build up.

So does that mean as long as the skill is sublime, then a double handball is ok? Or does it simply mean that as long as a double handball is not committed against a British team, then it is perfectly alright?

Canadian broadcasters did highlight the illegal usage of the arm but still dubbed it a beautiful goal of amazing skill. It is remarkable that Henry was blasted for cheating yet people find Fabiano's illegal goal perfectly acceptable. To add a comical touch to the whole matter, the ref asked Fabiano if he used his arm in scoring the goal. As expected, Fabiano said no but one can detect a hint of a smile in his response.

Today, a partial admittance came from Fabiano but it is still nonsense:

But in order to make the goal more beautiful, there had to be a doubtful element. It was a spectacular goal and I believe it was not a voluntary handball. It was a legitimate goal and it was one of the most beautiful goals that I've scored in my career. Where better to score such a goal than at the World Cup?"

I may be the only person on the planet who cannot see it as the beautiful goal that it is being called. If players can use their arm to bring the ball down, then I am sure we will see many such "beautiful goals".

Oh the acting...

Abdel-kader Keïta showed the world what cheating is all about when he got Kaka sent off by going down as if a sniper's bullet had hit him in the face. To make matters worse, Chile's Arturo Vidal decided to copy Abdel-kader Keïta and faked a slap to the face thereby getting Behrami sent off. Chile duly beat the Swiss 1-0 but it is hard to view that game after such an act of blatant cheating.

Such play-acting has become all too common and has tarnished this game. FIFA need to do something to stop this play-acting but as usual they remain silent while the World Cup continues to be ruined by cheats.

2002 Deja vu? or recurring travel blues?

French, Italian, Portuguese and English players all struggled and looked tired in 2002 when the World Cup was hosted in Asia for the first time. Even though Germany got to the 2002 final, they did it on the back of three consecutive 1-0 results. Now in Africa’s first World Cup, France, Italy and England are struggling once again but after a lackluster opener, atleast Portugal have found their shooting boots with a 7-0 win over North Korea.

Could it be that some of the current generation of European national players struggle or are not interested when the tournament is away from Europe? Or are the European nations just following history by performing poorly on foreign soil? Historically, European nations have not won a World Cup hosted outside of Europe in 8 attempts. On the other hand, European teams have won 9 out of 10 World Cups hosted in Europe. The sole non-European victory was provided by Brazil, ofcourse, who won the 1958 World Cup in Sweden by beating the hosts 5-2 in a memorable final when a young Pele announced his arrival on the world stage. Including the European triumph, Brazil have won the World Cup in 4 continents with a 1962 win in Chile, Mexico in 1970, USA in 1994 and Korea/Japan in 2002. Shockingly, Brazil lost the 1950 World Cup on home soil to Uruguay. After Brazil, Argentina are the only nation to have won in multiple continents as they won the 1978 World Cup at home (albeit with some luck in the final against Holland and maybe a bribe against Peru) and managed a famous (that goal and that handball) victory in Mexico 1986.

So a European winner in South Africa can dent the European travel blues theory although this theory will still get a stern test in 2014 when Brazil hosts the next World Cup. Safe to say, Brazil will be keen to erase memories of 1950 by achieving a home win four years from now.

Waka Waka -- This time for South America, not Africa

The record of the 6 African teams at this World Cup stands dismally at just one win (Ghana 1-0 Serbia), 4 draws (1-1, 0-0, 0-0, 1-1) and 7 losses. The six teams have just managed 6 goals between them but have conceded 15, with South Africa and Ivory Coast letting in 3 each in their 3-0 and 3-1 losses to Uruguay and Brazil respectively.

Prior to the World Cup, a lot of soccer writers/commentators mentioned that an African team would reach the semi-finals in South Africa. I always found that statement puzzling because I could not envision any of the African teams to even make it out of their groups let alone reach the semis. As it stands, Cameroon have become the first team to be officially eliminated from the World Cup and going into the final group games, only Ghana is best poised to make the next round but they have a tough test against Germany and have to find a way to score a goal from open play as both Ghanaian goals in this tournament have come from the penalty spot.  Algeria have already surpassed expectations with their 0-0 tie with England and still have an outside chance to make the second round but they have to score a goal for that to happen.

There isn't one easy explanation for all the African teams’ failures although all six teams have suffered from not having creative midfielders. In the case of Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon, the managers have to take a good chunk of the responsibility regardless of the time they have been employed in their jobs. Ivory Coast brought in Sven-Göran Eriksson in March and Nigeria hired Lars Lagerbäck in Febuary. A few months is not enough time for the managers to work with their teams especially if key players are plying their trade in Europe but Eriksson & Lagerbäck should have atleast established a tactical shape to utilize the players on hand. Although Paul Le Guen demonstrated that even a year may not be enough time to get things right as Le Guen's puzzling tactical decisions have aided Cameroon's poor display, especially in their opener against Japan when Alex Song was left on the bench and Cameroon's most lethal striker Samuel Eto'o was deployed wide right where he was rendered ineffective. On the other hand, in South Africa's case no amount of time may have been sufficient because their team lacks enough creative personnel. Even though Carlos Parreira is in his second tenure with South Africa, it is hard to see how much better he could have done given the resources at his disposal. South African players played above their strengths in the opener and almost got a winner but their weaknesses were on display against Uruguay.

On the other hand, South American teams continued their incredible unbeaten run at this World Cup thanks to Chile's win over Switzerland, Brazil's handball aided 3-1 victory over Ivory Coast and Paraguay's efficient 2-0 win over a dull and uninspired Slovakian team. The 5 South American teams now have 8 wins and 2 draws, scoring 18 goals and letting in just 4 goals.

Bragging rights for Europe and South America are also at stake in this World Cup as South America and Europe have split the previous 18 World Cup wins -- South America has won the cup 9 times (Brazil with 5, Uruguay and Argentina with 2 each) and Europe also has 9 wins (Italy with 4, Germany with 3, England and France with one each). Teams from the remaining four continents are still in contention at this World Cup so there is a still tiny (a generous 0.1%) chance that someone other than Europe or South America might succeed in Africa. But for now, things point to a South American champion in Africa.

Signs of Life

The World Cup kicked off on June 11 but for me the tournament really started on Tuesday, June 15 when Brazil edged off North Korea 2-1. This was easily the biggest mismatch of the tournament with the #1 ranked Brazilians taking on the 105th ranked North Korean team. 5 time World Cup Champions Brazil are the favourites at every tournament and are the only country to have played in every single World Cup. On top of that, they are the nation most associated with the beautiful game and every single aspect of their game is constantly studied, analyzed and talked about. Their players are well paid professionals who play for some of the top European teams. On the other hand, North Korea is an isolated nation whose football is invisible from the international stage and who were last seen in the World Cup back in 1966. The North Koreans only have three players who play international club football with An Yong Hak and Jong Tae Se playing in Japan and Hong Yong Jo based in Russia. Yet for almost 55 minutes they kept Brazil at bay and even had more shots on target than Brazil in the opening 20 minutes. Such a display is one of the real charms of the World Cup. In fact, only in soccer can two teams with such a vast gulf in skill set compete equally because soccer is truly a global game that is accessible to anyone with or without money. All one needs is a ball and if a ball is not available, then any round object will do.

If North Korea’s brave effort was eye catching, then the Swiss result over Spain is truly amazing. Ofcourse, Switzerland hardly had the ball but when they did have it at their feet, they made the most of it, first by bundling it over the line and then almost doubling their lead only to be denied by the post. Spain may have had 99.9999% possession of the ball but for the best part of an hour, they hardly did anything with it. As has often been by demonstrated by Arsenal, making sideway passes is absolutely pointless unless there is an end product.

The Swiss victory has the potential to change everything because if Spain finishes second in their group, then they will face Brazil in the next round, as opposed to meeting Brazil in the final. This assumes that Chile does not knock Spain out of the world cup.

South American delight

The 6 matches played by the South American teams have yielded 4 wins and 2 draws -- Uruguay 3-0 South Africa, Argentina 1-0 Nigeria, Brazil 2-1 North Korea, Chile 1-0 Honduras, Paraguay 1-1 Italy and Uruguay 0-0 France.

There is a strong possibility that all 5 South American teams can progress to the next round and 4 South American teams can occupy all the semi final spots. It will be interesting to see if Chile can maintain its high tempo entertaining style as the tournament goes along and whether Paraguay & Uruguay can continue to post impressive results.

Based on the first week’s results, it won’t be surprizing to see a South American World Cup winner. Ofcourse, it would be a real fairy tale if a South American team other than Brazil or Argentina can win the title.