Content/criticism
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar – probably the most controversial tournament of all time. In addition to all the discussions about the award, the situation on site and other disruptive noises, football was also played. And it’s not even that unspectacular. The final between France and Argentina was probably one of the best and most entertaining international football matches in a long time. Apart from that, the tournament had many little stories to tell, such as the good performance of the Moroccans or what was probably the last World Cup for football greats like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Luka Modric. Die Netflix-Dokuserie World-class captains tells all these stories and looks back on a world championship of contrasts.
A completely normal football documentary?
World-class captains starts like a normal and conventional football documentary. The series tells the small and big stories of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar chronologically in six episodes. The unique selling point: The focus is primarily on the captains of the nations. Messi, Ronaldo, Silva and Co. always have their say. This is quite interesting in some places. Most of the time, the documentary remains too superficial in its first few episodes. Above all, football professionals are highlighted, who can already be seen endlessly on the Internet and on television.
Will be interesting World-class captains only when the more unfamiliar faces come into focus. If Simon Kjaer, captain of the Danish national team, talks about how he manages family life with so much football and what it’s like to constantly have to talk about politics as an athlete. If the Senegalese Kalidou Koulibaly or the Moroccan Romain Saiss explain what significance the World Cup in Africa has for people. Or when Luka Modric beats his unsettled young goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic takes him aside and encourages him. Exactly in these places World-class captains a personal and intimate documentary that may seem very pathetic here and there, but still has its heart in the right place.
These personal moments are used cleverly. These small narratives give the game summaries, which take up a large part of the series, especially towards the end, the necessary twist. Portugal’s elimination and the meeting between Argentina and the Netherlands are particularly exciting to watch, even though we actually know what’s going to happen. The tournament wasn’t all that long ago. Nevertheless, there could have been more of the many stories surrounding the games.
A little too one-sided
From a German perspective, it is of course a shame that the German national team is hardly visible. A German player doesn’t have a say and the games are hardly shown. Another early elimination of a major football nation would have provided plenty of material for interesting, complex stories.
The issue of the general conditions in Qatar is also virtually hushed up. Lack of human rights, bought-in fans, stadiums in the middle of nowhere, a World Cup in the winter, corrupt awards – all topics that could also have been brought up. Unfortunately, the part with Simon Kjaer seems like it was inserted in order not to completely gloss over the whole thing. But in World-class captains it’s just about football. That’s fine given the thousands of posts about the World Cup in Qatar.
Credits
OT: „Captains of the World“
Land: UK
Year: 2023
Director: Gabe Turner, Benjamin Turner
Music: Sam Carey
Camera: Diogo Rodriguez
Contributors: Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Christiano Ronaldo, Olivier Giroud, Luka Modric, Thiago Silva, Gareth Bale, Simon Kjaer
Buy/Stream
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2024-01-06 19:29:54
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