Review: Film Makes Visual Poetry Out of Amateur Football

07/24/2015 - 09h22

There are some who get their kicks from goals, but there are those who love to waste time with complex offside calls, shameful bookings and reckless attackers, as amateur as they are passionate about what they do.

"Campo de Jogo" ("Playing Field", in a literal translation), directed by Eryk Rocha, goes deep into the roots of football obsession.

It depicts a championship played on a beaten dirtfield in one Rio's many favelas and portrays players and coaches who see football in a visceral way, beyond the superficial TV coverage.

If the traditional - and sometimes tedious - method of static interviewing on camera is not used, Eryk, son of Glauber Rocha, instead explores the sensory resources to the extreme. His images speak.

Talking about football in Brazil can easily fall into clichés and romanticized accounts of genuine amateur versus modern and pasteurized football.

On the other hand, Eryk could have made a documentary piece to intellectualize something that does not need an aseptic and superior look, as if to show animals in exotic cages.

"Campo de Jogo" is right on point. It imposes a sophisticated look to the same extent that it values ​​facets that could move even the toughest of football fans.

At just over an hour long, the documentary does not tire the viewer, who gets attached to the gameplay.

The team that lifts the cup, the players who score the goals and the hero of the match are all in the background. Eryk Rocha is a supporter of total football.

Translated by CRISTIANE COSTA LIMA

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	Divulgação
	"Campo de Jogo", directed by Eryk Rocha, goes deep into the roots of football obsession