Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Directed by Belgian former sports journalist Yves Hinant, French football documentary Les Arbitres – released in the UK as The Referees - draws obvious comparison with Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait as it hones in on one solitary figure during a football match. However, as the title suggests, here that figure is not a mercurial footballer but the most hated man in professional sport: the referee. The film follows a half-dozen of these poor souls (and their assistants) during matches at an international tournament – UEFA Euro 2008 (going from the group stage to the final) – as we catch a glimpse of the beautiful game in a way we’ve never been asked to see it before – from the point of view of the embattled man in the middle.
The Referees is a slightly more conventional documentary than the more arthouse-oriented Zidane, lacking that film’s Mogwai soundtrack and...
Directed by Belgian former sports journalist Yves Hinant, French football documentary Les Arbitres – released in the UK as The Referees - draws obvious comparison with Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait as it hones in on one solitary figure during a football match. However, as the title suggests, here that figure is not a mercurial footballer but the most hated man in professional sport: the referee. The film follows a half-dozen of these poor souls (and their assistants) during matches at an international tournament – UEFA Euro 2008 (going from the group stage to the final) – as we catch a glimpse of the beautiful game in a way we’ve never been asked to see it before – from the point of view of the embattled man in the middle.
The Referees is a slightly more conventional documentary than the more arthouse-oriented Zidane, lacking that film’s Mogwai soundtrack and...
- 8/4/2011
- by Robert Beames
- Obsessed with Film
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