Everyone gives his best part.
Ecki (Maximilian Brückner) is a young man who works in a bakery in Dortmund and plays soccer on his local team. Already under pressure for playing badly, his homophobic team members find out that he is gay and throw him off the team. With the help of his sister, Susanne (Lisa Maria Potthoff), and cranky former soccer star, Karl (Rolf Zacher), he tries to form an all-gay soccer squad to challenge his old team in a grudge match. Ecki's journey in self-realization is filled with wonderful surprises and interesting characters in this delightful romantic comedy from Germany.
Secret Agent Acid Thunder
Before I get into my intelligence estimate, I would like to start with a few words to those of you who have read my previous reports. I never really left. In the words of Paul Baroli, "I've just had a 4½ year hiatus." For a long time I lost my way. The passion I had for expressing my thoughts was turned off and instead, I tried to vocalise my ideas. It was a good idea at the time; now it is time to find some balance. And now for the review.
Balls (Männer wie wir) should have been an Australian film. It has everything in it that we Aussies enjoy: diversity, minority heroes, worthy causes, the exploration of a taboo and blowing it wide open. Even though we are 6 years into the new millennium we are still living many social activities in the dark ages.
Imagine - and I know you can - what the world would be like if almost everyone was born homosexual and heterosexuals were the minority. To be blunt, I don't think things would be any different. At all.
Germany has a long and tortured history yet they have welcomed homosexuality far more than most countries in the world. Which isn't to say that homophobia doesn't exist because it does and this is where the film starts.
Ecki (clever name that, the good old disco biscuit) is a young lad growing up in small-town Germany. Like many country towns, homophobia is starting to decline but it isn't going without a fight. Ecki's soccer team (Go fussball!) is trying to move up a grade and blames Ecki when they fail. When he comes to terms with his sexuality he uses it as leverage for revenge against his former team-mates.
What started as a grudge match turns into a game of dissolving an age-old taboo: just because you shag your best mate doesn't make you any less tough. You are who you are; what matters is what you do with yourself, how you feel about yourself and how you express it to others.
I loved this movie: it's right up there with High art. It wasn't over the top, I believed that it happened, I see it every day. It's in the Convicts rugby team, it's in Kinky boots, it's in my life. Don't knock it 'til you try it.
The gay, Germany, soccer movie Balls (Männer wie wir) is directed by Sherry Horman and stars Maximilian Brückner, David Rott, Lisa Maria Potthoff.
M (Moderate sexual references, moderate coarse language)
102 minutes (1:42 hours)
DVD retail: 6 May 2006
