(From East L.A. to Newcastle - how’s that for a shitty weather change?)
CAST: Kuno Becker, Alessandro Nivola, Anna Friel, Stephen Dillane, Sean Pewtree, Miriam Colon, Marcel Iures, Tony Plana, Cassandra Bell.
DIRECTOR: Danny Cannon
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and one East Los Angeleno discovering just how nasty English mud can really be…
There’s been a few examples in the history of British football wherein American players came across the pond to play on the same teams as our cousins on the other side of the Atlantic. The most prominent among them were Eddie Lewis, who transferred from the San Jose Earthquakes, and Marcus Hahnemann, who transferred from the Colorado Rapids. In Britain, both started in the Fulham club before moving to other clubs in the country.
Lewis and Hahnemann’s experiences as American football players serving on UK teams parallel some of the events in our latest review, GOAL: THE DREAM BEGINS. Of course, Lewis and Hahnemann were already successful, established players when they went to play in England. The hero of GOAL, on the other hand, is not.
His name is Santiago Munez (Kuno Becker), and we first meet him as a child trying to cross the border as an illegal alien, along with his family and other desperate but hopeful folks. At the crucial moment, little Santiago drops his cherished soccer ball - and actually thinks about chasing after it down the hill - even with Border Patrol bearing down on him and his posse. Fortunately, Santiago’s dad (Tony Plana) yells some sense into this head and the youngster follows everyone through the hole in the fence.
Cut to ten years later, and we find that Santiago and his Pops are now plying a humble but tidy living as gardeners to the rich and fabulous of Los Angeles. Presumably, there are still without Green Cards, and must lay low. This becomes clear when Santiago questions the boss at his second job in a Chinese restaurant about why he hasn’t been promoted from busboy to waiter yet. The dude pretty much smirks and says its because: (1) Santiago doesn’t have that Green Card; and (2) even if he did have that Green Card, there’s a greater chance of Paris Hilton joining a convent than him becoming a waiter because (3) he’s not Chinese.
No worries, though, because as frustrating as gardening and bussing tables can get, Santiago has soccer (we’ll call it soccer while we’re still in the States) to turn to. His teammates are car wash personnel, and the coach looks like he runs a car wash. Needless to say, we’re not talking about Major League Soccer here.
Santiago dreams big, though. He’s not sure what he wants, but he knows it’s more than what he has right now. His father, though, tells him to get his fucking head out of the clouds and focus on trying to get a truck of their own so they can have their own gardening business, instead of relying on the largess (and truck) of others. In other words, unless something happens fast, Santiago looks ready to spend the rest of his days trimming the, uh, bushes of rich people. You know what I mean.
Fortunately, something does happen. While playing a game on the same field as a bunch of elementary school kids (if that’s not a sign that you are well below the Majors, I don’t know what is), Santiago’s natural ability gets the attention of visiting Brit tourist Glenn Foy (Stephen Dillane). Apparently, Glenn used to be a scout back in Britain, and is in America visiting his daughter and grandkids.
Knowing a good thing when he sees it, Glenn offers to have an agent come to Santiago’s next game to scope out our young gardener/busboy’s kicking and goaling talents. Unfortunately, the agent (Sean Pewtree) turns out to be a flaky lush who misses the game. Not giving up so easily, Glenn calls back home to the UK and wakes up Newcastle United club manager Eric Dornhelm (Marcel Iures) and practically blackmails the dude into giving Santiago a trial - if Santiago can find a way to get to England.
Four things are standing in Santiago’s way: (1) since he’s an illegal alien, he cannot fly out of L.A., and he’ll have to (2) cross the border into Mexico and fly out from there; (3) if things don’t pan out in the UK, he will not be able to come back to the U.S. because he lacks a Green Card; and (4) since his Dad stole his hidden money to buy that new truck, he doesn’t have money for a plane ticket.
Fortunately, Santiago’s grandmother (Miriam Colon) is of a stronger moral fiber than his father, and gives him enough money to cross over to Mexico, then fly to Europe from there. Leaving Pops to stew with rage at losing a business partner and a son. Seems like he’s more pissed about the business partner side.
Once Santiago arrives in the United Kingdom, he and Glenn hook up again and meet up with Eric, who arranges for a trial game to determine whether Santiago came halfway around the world for nothing - or if he actually has a future in British football like Eddie Lewis and Marcus Hahnemann. Note: now that we have crossed the Atlantic, we will no longer use the word “soccer.”
Will Santiago make the cut? If not, will he be given another chance? Does he have what it takes to play the “English Game?” Can he handle all that rain, mud, and droll humor? Or will he go back to L.A. with his tail tucked between his legs? What happens when he strikes up a friendship with star football player Gavin Harris (Alessandro Nivola)? Will Gavin have a negative influence on him? Or a positive one? What about the pretty team nurse, Roz (Anna Friel) who catches Santiago’s fancy? Do they have a future together? Does he have a future as star football player? And, most importantly, what will Santiago do when he finds out what’s in “blood pudding?”
Suffice it to say, he should’ve stuck to eggs and orange juice for breakfast… Or some English Breakfast tea. Sometimes, you gotta learn the hard way….
BUT, SERIOUSLY: Our last Soccer Flick review, BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM, dealt with a Brit faced with the prospect of going to the U.S. to pursue a football scholarship. Our latest Soccer Flick review, GOAL: THE DREAM BEGINS, deals with the reverse: an American player who risks everything to cross the Atlantic and try and make it in the (arguable) birthplace of the sport itself.
Whereas BEND IT expertly weaved light humor with understated melancholy to deliver an important message of about staying true to your dream and yourself, GOAL goes the more serious route. Yes, there is humor but the melancholy is more prevalent in this film as we watch Santiago try to make something of himself, against all odds.
The movie has an undeniable visual power. From the warmly-lit opening scenes of young Santiago playing football with some friends in a dusty Mexican neighborhood and his life in L.A. ten years later, to the cooler tones of the Newcastle scenes, to the kinetic charge of the football matches themselves, director Danny Cannon hooks us in for the ride. It also helps that the cast is top-notch and nails their roles.
Talented character actors Stephen Dillane, Sean Pewtree, and Marcel Iures lend able support to the proceedings in pivotal roles. Anna Friel and Cassandra Bell are sharp as the female leads who each make the mistake of falling for football players. Bell, in particular, has only a couple of scenes, but she plays them with such subtle power and striking allure that the role feels bigger than it is. Still, you can’t help but wish her role would have been expanded. I have to wonder if some of her scenes were deleted for running time purposes.
The best performance, however, comes from Alessandro Nivola as Gavin Harris, the playboy player (in every sense of the word) who used to be great and is now teetering on the edge of becoming a has-been. Gavin is a layered character whose layers are gradually revealed as the story progresses. When we first meet him at a press conference, we can’t help but think he’s being positioned as some sort of nemesis for the up-and-coming Santiago.
GOAL’s biggest surprise, however, is that Gavin ends up being a vigilant big brother figure to the younger American player. Some of GOAL’s best scenes are of Gavin rising to defend and save Santiago from the powers-that-be, and also the two of them cooperating on the field to score some awesome goals. Santiago’s passion for the sport awakens Gavin’s forgotten integrity and his own love for the game. It’s a wonderful relationship that forms the emotional core of the movie.
As for the Los Angeles side of the story, Miriam Colon and Tony Plana are both perfect as Santiago’s caring and self-sacrificing grandmother, and his stern and pragmatic father. Colon and Plana are both affecting and have individual scenes where they simply shine.
Finally, there’s Kuno Becker as our hero Santiago. At first, it took me a little bit to warm to Becker’s portrayal. He seemed just a little too calm and composed for someone going through such a turbulent period, and I wasn't sure if this was the character or if it was a flaw in Becker's acting. However, Santiago is just as layered a character as his soul brother Gavin, and as those layers are revealed, I started to realize that Becker’s initial aloofness is part of the role he’s playing. Clearly, Santiago has had a difficult life, and his time as a gang member in East L.A. obviously had a lot to do with his tendency to hide his feelings under an impassive surface. In the end, Becker turns in just as strong a performance as his peers, and he and Nivola as Gavin anchor the film with their platonic “Bro-Mance.”
To sum up, GOAL is like the football version of ROCKY: it’s exciting, inspiring, moving, and ultimately, uplifting. In short, it’s like the sport of football itself.
