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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with WILLIAM HALL
Published: 30 August 2007

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Pick of the Indies: In The Hands of the Gods

BELSIZE Park brothers Ben and Gaby Turner are part of the team behind the most watchable film I have seen this year and the football-mad boys – both die-hard Sunderland fans – have created an original piece of film that will appeal to a wide range of people.
Although primarily a story about five football freestylers busking their way to Argentina to doorstep their hero Deigo Maradona, In The Hands of the Gods, out next week, works on a number of levels.
It is a timely piece of social commentary on the mores of young people in Asbo’d Britain.
Small moments of cinematography hammer home the heroes’ predicament – we watch one showing off a range of tricks on the estate where he grew up, under a telling sign ordering children that no ball games will be tolerated. In one sense, it screens as a requiem to the talents that can be unearthed, if only opportunities were presented.
For the football head, the film rushed past in a blaze of wonderful tricks.
It is also extremely funny – as a road trip film, it’s a masterful piece of male bonding. With so much to contend with, from petty fights over the problems of earning the money they need to get from London to Argentina, to fundamentally different outlooks on what they owe each other and the world in general, the five have a long way to go.
You can’t help but egg them on to fulfil the challenge of getting to Buenos Aries and shaking the hand of the player they agree was the greatest.
The Turner brothers and their colleagues have secured a wide distribution for their independently made film.
Simply told, gorgeously shot, it is one of the most inspiring films I have seen and is in a class of its own when it comes to movies about the beautiful game.
Dan Carrier

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