Customer Reviews

The Miracle of Bern ( Das Wunder von Bern ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Germany ]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Historically, few movies have been made about football (or soccer, for those in the United States). I believe this is due for two reasons: 1) Hollywood wasn't familiar and care little for the sport for many years, and 2) European directors, who one would have expected to be more disposed to made such a film, have generally been dismissive of the sport. You see, in their mind, I think they see it as the opiate of the people (the working class in Western Europe would rather go and see a match on Sunday than start a revolution to overthrow capitalism). Only recently there have been a number of movies that deal with the world's most popular sport. This is in my opinion the best of them, dealing with the surprise victory of Germany in the 1954 World Cup over the highly favored team of Hungary. This victory was of historical significance for the Germans, according to some people, since it was the first victory of any kind Germany have 9 years after the end of the war, and it meant the start of a new era of increased self-confidence for the country. OK, maybe this is an exaggeration, but this movie, which mixes real characters (the players, coach Herberger) with invented ones (the journalist and his newly married wife, the kid from the Ruhr region who has a bad relationship with his former POW father and wants to go to Switzerland to see the final match) is thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end.

I had bought the film because I had been told that it captured the down-and-out mood of West Germany in the early 1950s, wanting something to believe in, which the World Cup championship provided. It did not fill that role. But even if I had purchased the film with other expectations, I would have to give it only a lukewarm response. The plot has too many loose ends, and the characters are too undeveloped, for this film to work really well. It has three subplots, one about the miraculous ascent of the German national team during the World Cub of 1954, the other about the attempt of a father, recently returned from POW camp in the Soviet Union after 12 years, to readjust to family life, and a final subplot about a newly married and very green sports journalist trying to balance covering the games and dealing with his charming new wife. The efforts to make these two developments work together is too forced, the adjustment of the father initially too difficult and then suddenly too easy. The subplot about the journalist could be left out without harming the rest of the film - always a bad sign. Some of the characterizations are simply superfluous. Why does it matter that the father's older son is a member of the Communist party? Why does it matter that the journalist's bride comes from a high-born family? The resolution of the plot - the loyal boy fan showing up at the last minutes of the game to provide inspiration to a German player who had spent most of the Cup as a benchwarmer to help win the game, is just too cliched.

In all, a mildly entertaining film, but one which could have been much better.

Frankly, I was disappointed in this movie. It spends way too much time on the soccer aspect at the expense of fleshing out the father and son so one can understand, especially, the father's behavior. The story is very weak, and even the changes the father makes seem to come out of nowhere. Even more farfetched is when Matthias shows up at the World Cup final and that so inspires his player-hero that he wins the game! There are a lot of much better movies out there, especially if you have to go to the trouble to get a region 2 or multi-region DVD player to watch it.