3/5 stars
Since the tournament first kicked off in 2003, the Homeless World Cup has become an annual institution, using football to provide struggling individuals with community and an invaluable support network while changing the public image of homelessness and removing the stigma attached to it.
The competition is hosted every year in a different city, and attracts national teams from all over the world to compete in a modified four vs four format.
The Homeless World Cup has been the subject of numerous film and television documentaries, most notably Kicking It, narrated by Colin Farrell, which chronicled the 2008 tournament in Cape Town, South Africa.
Farrell serves as a producer on The Beautiful Game, a new British sports drama starring Bill Nighy and Micheal Ward, which uses a fictional Homeless World Cup tournament in Rome as its backdrop.
Employing an incredibly well-worn formula as old as cinema itself, the film follows England’s ragtag team of underdogs as they journey to the Italian capital for the event.
Under the stewardship of retired talent scout Mal (Nighy), the assorted players embrace the camaraderie and discipline of football to overcome the hardships – be it drugs, gambling or kleptomania – that drove them onto the streets.
The team’s stability is tested by the last-minute addition of Vinny (Ward), who Mal brings into the team on the eve of their departure.
While clearly a gifted player, Vinny is initially reluctant to come on board. He sleeps in his car but refuses to admit to being homeless. On the pitch, he runs circles around the other players, but his arrogance and selfishness threaten to destabilise their entire operation.
These issues are magnified upon their arrival in Rome, as the pressures of being in a high-stakes competition in a foreign land overwhelm wounded and vulnerable individuals.
The tournament plays out in the shadow of Castel Sant’Angelo, and the postcard perfect depiction of Rome fits the film’s rose-tinted sensibilities.
The violently unpredictable Vinny proves difficult to warm to, while his teammates – and the other teams in general – are reduced to broadly sketched archetypes.
Nighy is as effortlessly affable as ever, and embodies the tone of a film clearly more invested in celebrating fair play than hard-fought victories.
The Beautiful Game will start streaming on Netflix on March 29.