Sunday, August 10, 2008

Movie of the Month-Football Factory

August, the month when summer begins to ebb and American Football fanatics begin their fantasy leagues and ready for the new season. I however, gear up for another football, the English Premiere League and Italian Serie A, the finest football leagues on the planet. Yes, I am talking about Soccer, the single greatest sport on the planet. In the month that these leagues begin to gear up, we look at a film that shows how fanatical soccer fans (or football fans) really are. Coming from the UK, 2004's Football Factory, is without a doubt one of the most violent, offensive, brutal films I have ever seen---and I love every second of it. It is the story of English soccer zealots who travel from city to city each weekend to catch their home team of Tottenham play across the country. The catch is, these zealots never actually make it into the stadium to see their team play. Instead they are starting riots, doing lines of blow, selling blow and finding a girl to take home for the night. Think Trainspotting meets Green Street Hooligans. Instead the major difference between this and Hooligans is, Football Factory makes Elijah Wood's film look like Alice in Wonderland. Opening the film with the protagonist getting smashed in the face with a brick and saying lines like "Getting beaten up by football hooligans is like having V.D. The fucking pain goes on forever. But that's what makes it so exciting. " I promise you have not seen anything like this. Certainly a film to rent or add to your Netflix queue and enjoy.