This short documentary film (narrated by an inimitable, bearded, Eric Cantona) tells the story of Socrates, a Brazilian footballer who along with his teammates turned a football team, Corinthians, into a space for democratic practice and ultimately contestation against the dictatorship in Brazil. The film is part of a larger series co-produced by Al Jazeera and Arte called “Rebelles du Foot,” “The Rebels of Football.” It includes another film on Rachid Mekloufi and the role of football in the struggle for Algerian independence, nicely reviewed here by Shireen Ahmed at the blog A Football Report.
Enjoy the film and share your thoughts here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6CAGuMzig8
Wow! What an incredible story. It especially resonated with me when they talked about how Socrates used football to portray how life should be, and brought my thoughts back to the Bromberger article where he too discussed a football game as a representation of an ideal world. Socrates took this thinking one step further, though, and tried actively to bring the “ideal society” on the pitch into a real life manifestation of fairness, equality, and justice. And he succeeded! I can’t think of another example of an athlete using their public presence to bring about such widespread social and political changes on a national level. He truly is football’s Che Guevara!