The Football Factory

I read a review of The Football Factory that said the characters are so "orrible" and "hateful" it was impossible to like them at all! You have to think that that particular reviewer knows nothing about the subject matter of the film he was writing about. Does he think that hoards of footie hooligans, who delight in knocking seven bells of tar out of each other, want to be liked?

The Football Factory is directed by Nick Love and based on the book of the same name written by John King. It stars Danny Dyer {who else really?}, Frank Harper, Neil Maskell and Tamer Hassan {Hassan fans should note he's rarely in it tho}. The story is about what was termed The English Disease, a disease where like minded adults from various walks of life, religiously took to fighting like minded adults, in the name of what football team they happened to support. There's been a ream of books written on the subject, from those involved and by those who haven't a clue outside of reading their Sunday Times articles back in the day. There's also been one or two films about the subject, from pretty ace efforts like Phillip Davis' ID, to middling tellings such as Elijah Wood starrer Green Street. It's a subject that people seem hell bent on dissecting and attempting to get to the bottom of.

So with that in mind, Love's movie is something of a triumph in that it tries the hardest to understand its topic. To those on the outside of football hooliganism, it looks like a bunch of blokes mindlessly inflicting harm on each other whilst simultaneously damaging the good name of the national sport. But Love, with help from King's source, explores ego led tribalism, male bonding, male conformity and dissatisfaction of life in general. Throw in the punches and a ream of genuine laughs and you got a film that is easy to like if you belong to a certain demographic. Here is the problem if you are not a geezer, a tribal footie fan or a mindless thug, The Football Factory holds no appeal to the casual observer, which is a shame, because as stated previously, it's trying hard to reason and understand. There's for instance a cracking plot-strand involving two old fella's, Tommy's {Dyer} granddad Bill {Dudley Sutton} & Albert {John Junkin}. Both lifelong pals who have grown tired of what "their" Britain has become, thus they are in the process of emigrating to Australia. This dovetails smartly with the unfolding story of football violence perpetrated by the kids of the day. Generational differences? Perhaps, maybe?

The cast are strong, either fitting the mean profile perfectly {Harper/Hassan} or delivering the needed cocky swagger line {Dyer}, Love has assembled, what is for the material at hand, the perfect cast. OK we probably could have done with Vinnie Jones or Ross Kemp in there somewhere, but it's a low budget movie you know!. The fight scenes are grim and look authentic and the soundtrack rocks the large one too. So is it glamorising a touchy subject? Well yes it is, if you are a football hooligan yourself that is. It's not a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination, but it has good intentions in there, even if not all of them are fully realised. To which it leaves us with an impacting, intriguing and uneasily enjoyable movie. 7.5/10

The hooligan culture is and never was a class thing, people from all walks of life participated, from local council flat drug users to people with well paid office and professional jobs to ex-army types on a very nice pension. This film shows that in true fashion.

Whilst I never took part in any of that crap I have met, seen and known many who have in my time, most are fairly normal people away from all that, in fact I knew one guy for over a year before I found out that after standing on the terraces with the rest of us on a Saturday afternoon he used to go and get pissed, filled up with E's and go on a rampage with his other mates in other nearby towns looking for Cardiff City supporters.

This film is a fairly accurate reflection on the type and mix of people who became hooligans in the first place, especially poignant is the guy who got away from it all, made something half decent of himself and puts it down to simply growing up. Most of the people I have seen in the past are like that, the ones who aren't tend to be those who were put away before they got to that maturing stage, and I'm not talking about end of puberty maturing I'm talking about the day you wake up and think to yourself is this really going to be the rest of my life kind of maturing.

Full marks to all involved for not taking the easy way out and producing a sack full of morally correct/incorrect bullcrap and instead giving a realistic insight into a very scary world.

Yes the film does not really flow or have a connected plot line, but then it isn't meant to, it is meant to be a film about real life, real life does not have a set up stage, middle bit and happy conclusion. In fact this film could probably loop around for another few years of Tommy's life before he either ends up in jail or shakes himself out into the happy ending scenario that I'm sure many were expecting all along.

The film is at times brutal, unsubtle and the language is extremely tasteless, however these are all thing you would have seen in that reality and it is to the credit of the makers and actors that this did not bog the film down at all. Every scene had a purpose no matter how obscure it may have seen at the first watching.

At every scene from about 10 minutes in I felt emotionally involved in a way that not many films manage to do to me, I actually had empathy for these people if not sympathy, I could se how they could get pleasure from the things that they do even if they turn my own stomach to think of anyone I really care about being involved in them.

Even today in what is a golden age of film making (and don't let any stuck up critic tell you it is not) very few films really make you feel connected to the characters in this way, films like Trainspotting, Twin Town, Human Traffic and now Football Factory are a very unusual thing and seem to be specific to the British film industry right at the moment. Maybe it's just I am personally more able to relate to them having grown up around such cultures, I don't know, I just know that I am glad I bought this film and would recommend anyone watch it if only for a better understanding of the culture at that time, something I am proud to say we have made huge strides to eradicate in this country.

Football violence is a horrible thing. Period. What "The football factory" shows us is a bit of reasoning behind why, seemingly normal go out and beat the crap out of each other because of a game with 22 guys and a ball. The truth is, it has nothing to do with the game. How the team actually does really doesn't matter, as long as you get to play your rivals because it's about togetherness and escaping the dreariness of everyday life. In a sick a twisted way of course, but it's the only way for these guys. The movie itself goes by at a million miles an hour and gives us characters that seem both believable and real, and a really touching story of a friendship that has lasted through the ages. The main character Tommy is a really interesting one: He knows he's on the path to destruction and through visions of his own demise, he realizes that it's all going to hell and that he (along with the other hang-arounds) are along for the ride. It's a movie that is definitely worth an hour and a half of your time and you Americans should praise yourself lucky that at least you got one thing right: You know how to behave at sporting events (hell, at NFL games they have barbecues out in the parking lot where fans of the opposing teams eat and hang out together. Just imagine that at a Tottenham-Chelsea or Roma-Lazio game!)

Being German I'm not really into the Hooligan way of life. I'm just fond of the Brit way of making films and this one is just brilliant. Of course you can argue about whether the director Nick Love is showing the life of some football thugs too positive and without the "never do this, kids" attitude, but...this is just a great piece of film. It has terrific acting (especially Frank Harper does a great job), splendid camera and editing and a more than suiting soundtrack. Watched it with some pals and it was just great fun. The scene where Rod tells his girlfriend's parents about his inner thoughts is a highlight. So if you're able to shut out all thoughts of moral and you're just interested in 90 minutes of quality film-making of today...watch this. It's definitely all worth it!

The Football Factory is movie about football (soccer) fans. Since they seem to be more interested in fighting than in actually watching the games this is certainly no sports film so don't let the title fool you. It's also based upon a novel that I haven't even heard of, but that could perhaps be because I'm in Sweden.

The Football Factory is a very episodic movie. Mostly it works, but sometimes I felt like I wanted to spend more time with main character Tommy Johnson or that they should at least had focused on fewer characters. Sometimes I felt that a scene was working really well, but the story quickly focused on other things. As I said, more often than not the episodic feel works fine, but not all the time.

As in almost all English movies the acting's great. From minor characters to main characters... they feel real. I especially think the voice over sounds very authentic: it's Tommy speaking, not actor Danny Dryer reading.

I think this is a good movie, it's rather violent and upsetting at times, but also funny and entertaining.