Mondialito

In this light-hearted road movie, a bunch of casual friends - the little boy Abdou who wants to see World Cup football, the service-station attendant George and the pretty Louisa - head via all kinds of adventurous wanderings towards Marseilles, the most mythical of ports, that seems to shelter extreme forms of everything a port has to offer in terms of corruption, smuggling and desperate immigration. George - whose real name is Ahmed - once had to leave this sun-drenched shady city when, as a professional soccer player, he clashed with the crooks who run the sport. To take Abdou to the cup match he so dreams of attending, he is willing to brave the ghosts of his past. Other characters in this appealing film also have a romantic streak. Louise flaps through life as a petty thief and do-gooder, the Russian seller-of-anything Oleg almost seems a fairytale figure and even crooked gipsies are willing to help the besieged Ahmed out of trouble.Despite the light tone, the film tackles topical and important themes en passant. The harsh life of Marseilles is sketched in all its stark colour and the corrupt world of soccer is portrayed without pulling punches. A road movie in which the journey eventually leads to maturity and settling up with the past cannot really be described as original, but this film is nevertheless a worthy and sympathetic addition to a beloved genre. (GjZ)