User Reviews

CENTRE FORWARD is a short and to the point North Korean film that tackles the subject of football. In it, a struggling team are put through their paces by their coach, who demands the very best from them through a series of gruelling training exercises. Is he demanding too much, or will the team finally prevail against the opposition?

This is a very slight and slender film whose low budget is apparent through both the short running time and the black and white cinematography. As a sports film it's acceptable enough, with some workable football sequences and plenty of the usual emoting you'd expect from a film like this. The acting is assured and, being a North Korean movie, there are the usual propaganda songs that praise the motherland and the great leader. Not one of the country's classics, but CENTRE FORWARD works fine all the same as a piece of social documentation.

Having sat on the bench of an undefeated soccer team, a young player by the name of "In Son" (In Son Cha) finally gets to play in front of a national audience-and he causes the team to lose. Yet, although he is terribly depressed, he continues to work hard and this inspires the "coach" (Tae-su Pak) to implement a rigorous training schedule for all of the other players as well. Unfortunately, the new practice regimen is not very popular with the players and this creates a tremendous amount of pressure, not just upon the coach, but upon those in senior management positions as well. Now rather than detail any more of the story and risk ruining the movie for those who haven't seen it I will just say that for a relatively unknown film--from a country not renowned for its motion picture industry--this particular sports-drama wasn't too bad. Naturally, as one might expect from a film produced in North Korea, there are several strands of propaganda that crop up from time to time. But if the viewer can disregard them then there is a chance that this film can offer some entertainment value just the same. Slightly above average.