Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècle

Intimate depiction of a football master in a day that would be hardly remembered if it wasn't for the cameras following each move and touch. For the fans, it serves as an unique look into what happens in the field -- Zidane sometimes barely touches the ball, but he produces a lot when he has the chance; also, it proves how Marcos Senna, always seen behind the french in the first half, would be essential for Spain in Euro 08. For cinephiles, it's a POV suffocating and sensorial experience.

I never thought I'd be that interested in a football match before.

Quiet film of a legend playing a run-of-the-mill match. Looks pretty and has a good score, but I'd much rather call it an art film rather than a documentary. Provides little to no factual insight, but just allows me to observe up close how a legend acts on the pitch. Goes the route of replays for the goal he was involved in, which is weird and takes away from the experience.

Nice idea but terrible execution. The selling point of the film is a focus not achieved as a spectator but this is lost due to a mish mash of camera angles, replay highlights, cod subtitled philosophy, ham-fisted dubbing, pointless soft focus, stadium shots, you name it, anything that can be done to cock this up has been put in place. Major disappointment. Appalling.

Exhausting.

There are two main problems with this, it relies on preexisting viewer interest in Zidane (though not necessarily admiration), and it loses focus a little too often. Despite these two problems, it's a unique perspective on a sporting competition with compelling execution.

The contrast between the tele-broadcast and the experience of a player. It's noteworthy how little Zidane has the ball. Most of the time he is like a hunter, looking carefully, running, hiding, and attacking at the right time. The solitude of the hero. The match is a war, it is an event as part of history (remember the sequence with Iraq and world history), supporters are like the chorus in tragedies, witnessing the hero's poetic touch, Zidane, like Achielleus or Oedipus (red card at the end).

Similar in concept to Fußball wie noch nie, nevertheless it's an updated attempt that works well thanks to a Mogwai soundtrack.

more interesting than stoke vs wigan

Even though the idea is just amazing, it gets boring after a while.

"Technically, this documentary draws attention to itself far too often with its tricksy shifts between camera angles and distances. But, as a study in sporting concentration and an avant-garde experiment in spatial disorientation, it's pretty damn impressive."

"An overblown nearly-real-time documentary-cum-"art installation." - Bill Weber

Maybe one of the best players of all time. This player deserved a better end of his carrier. Very good Domumentary.